I wasn't sure whether or not the highlighted part belonged in the background The United States embarked on an era of reconstruction, with the painful history of slavery. The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the constitution were added to outlaw slavery. This would guarantee black citizens equal treatment under the law. However there was major resistance especially in the south. By the 1870's reconstruction fizled out, and the Jim Crow era began. This case begins in 1892, when Homer Plessy bought a first class ticket and was told to move to a different coach. Plessy refused, he was them thrown off the train and sent to a jail cell In a 1890 state law it reads railways within Louisiana are required to have "equal but separate" coaches. Plessy was put on trial in state court for breaking the law by sitting in the wrong coach. At trial Plessy argued that the law was unconstitutional, the government disagreed and the judge sided with the government.