Plessy v. Ferguson: 125th Anniversary of “Separate But Equal”
**Update: On January 5, 2022, Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards posthumously pardoned Homer Plessy under Louisiana’s 2006 Avery Alexander Act that allows pardons for persons “who ha[ve] been convicted of violating a state law or municipal ordinance the purpose of which was to maintain or enforce racial separation or discrimination of individuals.”**
On the afternoon of June 7, 1892 a gentleman purchased a first class train ticket in New Orleans. Following departure he was asked a question by the conductor that would lead to one of the most famous cases in United States Supreme Court history: “Are you a colored man?” The passenger was Homer Plessy. His refusal to move to the “colored car” resulted in his arrest and charges for violation of the Louisiana Separate Car Act — a law that was then only two years old.
According to Britannica, “The law required that all railroads operating in the state provide ‘equal but separate accommodations’ for white and African American passengers and prohibited passengers from entering accommodations other than those to which they had been assigned on the basis of their race.”
Plessy, a shoemaker of mixed race, was not on the train that summer afternoon by accident. He knew he would likely never make it to the destination in Covington, Louisiana. He was there as an act of civil disobedience on behalf of the group Comité des Citoyens (Committee of Citizens), “a group of New Orleans residents who sought to repeal the Act. They asked Plessy, who was technically black under Louisiana law, to sit in a ‘whites only’ car of a Louisiana train.” Even the conductor was part of the group’s plan.
The New York Times reports, “For much of Plessy’s young life, New Orleans, with its large population of former slaves and so-called ‘free people of color,’ had enjoyed at least a semblance of societal integration and equality. Black residents could attend the same schools as whites, marry anybody they chose and sit in any streetcar.” However, over the course of his life, white supremacist groups began to gain prominence in Louisiana, resulting in the passage of discriminatory laws such as the Separate Car Act.
Following trial court Judge John H. Ferguson’s ruling convicting him of the charges, Plessy’s four year road to the US Supreme Court began. The question before the Court was whether or not the Act violated the 14th Amendment. In a 7–1 opinion issued on May 18, 1896, the Court opined that it did not. The Library of Congress explains, “The Court’s ‘separate but equal’ decision in Plessy v. Ferguson on that date upheld state-imposed Jim Crow laws. It became the legal basis for racial segregation in the United States for the next fifty years.”
The Oyez Project summarizes:
In an opinion authored by Justice Henry Billings Brown, the majority upheld state-imposed racial segregation. Justice Brown conceded that the 14th Amendment intended to establish absolute equality for the races before the law, but held that separate treatment did not imply the inferiority of African Americans. The Court noted that there was not a meaningful difference in quality between the white and black railway cars.
This year marks the 125th anniversary of the Plessy decision. It was overturned nearly 58 years to the day with another landmark Supreme Court opinion, decided on May 17, 1954: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
In 2009, two descendants of Homer Plessy and Judge Ferguson formed a foundation together in order to provide education about the case and raise awareness of its significance and relevance over one hundred years later. The Foundation created Plessy Day, celebrated each year on June 7th, the date when Plessy was arrested and removed from the train. The Foundation is hosting two virtual events on May 18th to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Plessy v. Ferguson.
For additional reading on Plessy, check out Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America’s Journey from Slavery to Segregation, available in the law library collection, along with the following links:
Plessy v. Ferguson: Primary Documents in American History (Library of Congress)
Plessy and Ferguson in the News (Plessy and Ferguson Foundation)
The Aftermath of the Plessy v. Ferguson Ruling
Brown v. Board of Education Re-Enactment: The Plessy Decision (US Courts)
Plessy v. Ferguson research guide (The Law Library of Louisiana) (LE)
