USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Homer Plessy, original name Homère Patrice Adolphe Plessy, (born March 17, 1863, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.-died March 1, 1925, New Orleans), American shoemaker who was best known as the plaintiff in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Plessy v.

Detailed explanation-2: -Five years later, Homer Plessy, a resident of Louisiana, decided to challenge a Louisiana law requiring segregation on railcars by purchasing a train ticket and sitting in a “whites only” car. Because Plessy was an “octoroon” (1/8th black), he was subject to the black codes of Louisiana.

Detailed explanation-3: -The underlying case began in 1892 when Homer Plessy, a mixed-race man, deliberately boarded a “whites-only” train car in New Orleans. By boarding the whites-only car, Plessy violated Louisiana’s Separate Car Act of 1890, which required “equal, but separate” railroad accommodations for white and non-white passengers.

Detailed explanation-4: -After refusing to leave the car at the conductor’s insistence, he was arrested and jailed. Convicted by a New Orleans court of violating the 1890 law, Plessy filed a petition against the presiding judge, Hon. John H. Ferguson, claiming that the law violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Detailed explanation-5: -Southern states took advantage of the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision legalizing segregation and began to pass laws like those in Mississippi, requiring segregation and stating that anyone not following the law could be jailed.