On May 18, 1896, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the Plessy v. Ferguson case that discrimination against African Americans on railroad trains did not violate the Constitution.
We consider the underlying fallacy of the plaintiff's argument to consist in the assumption that the enforced separation of the two races stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority. If this be so, it is not by reason of anything found in the act, but solely because the colored race chooses to put that construction upon it.
Legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts or to abolish distinctions based upon physical differences, and the attempt to do so can only result in accentuating the difficulties of the present situation. If the civil and political rights of both races be equal, one cannot be inferior to the other civilly or politically. If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane.
Supreme Court of the United States. Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U. S. 537. May 18, 1896.
This decision allowed racial segregation to continue in education, transportation, employment and other settings. Such policies were called "Jim Crow" laws, named after a fictional character portrayed by a white actor wearing blackface makeup. Railroad companies commonly forced Black passengers to ride in a "Jim Crow" car separate from whites. Five months after the Supreme Court decision, Paul Laurence Dunbar traveled by train from Dayton to Washington, D. C., but was able to ride in a normal car.
Mrs. Dunbar left Tuesday for Chicago. Mr. Paul Dunbar has gone to Washington, D. C.
"Gem City News." The Cleveland Gazette (Cleveland, Ohio). October 17, 1896. Page 2.
As you see I arrived safe in Washington and am very cozily ensconced in Mrs. Baker's lovely home. My trip here was a very delightful one. I especially enjoyed the scenery through Virginia as I could look out on it from a luxurious coach all the way and did not once have to take a "Jim Crow" car.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Matilda Dunbar, October 15, 1896. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 1).
However, several years later on a trip to Tuskegee, Alabama, Paul was not so fortunate.
I did not write yesterday because I was on the train all day and an awful trip it was -- "Jim Crow" car, no sleeper and about a half dozen changes. Naturally I am sick from it. Don't worry when I tell you that in gagging today, I had quite a flow of blood. Where it came from I don't know.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Alice Moore Dunbar, April 17, 1901. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 8).
Although the law required railroad companies "to provide equal, but separate, accommodations for the white and colored races," train cars and other facilities for Blacks were typically of inferior quality. One of Paul's short stories refers to the uncomfortable conditions found in a "Jim Crow" train car.
"And this is Mt. Hope," said the Rev. Howard Dokesbury to himself as he descended, bag in hand, from the smoky, dingy coach, or part of a coach, which was assigned to his people, and stepped upon the rotten planks of the station platform. The car he had just left was not a palace, nor had his reception by his fellow-passengers or his intercourse with them been of such cordial nature as to endear them to him.
"The Ordeal at Mount Hope," by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Published in Folks from Dixie (1898).