Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

Homer Plessy

Homer Adolph Plessy, or HomèreAdolphe Plessy (March 17, 1862 – March 1, 1925), was aFrench-speaking Creole from Louisiana, best known for being theplaintiff in the United States Supreme Court decision Plessy v.Ferguson.

Arrested, tried, and convicted in NewOrleans of a violation of one of Louisiana's racial segregation laws,he appealed through Louisiana state courts to the U.S. Supreme Courtand lost. The resulting "separate but equal"decision against him had wide consequences for civil rights in theUnited States. The decision legalized state-mandated segregationanywhere in the United States so long as the facilities provided forboth blacks and whites were putatively "equal".

Homer Plessy was a free person of colorborn to a family that came to America free from Haiti and France. Hisparents were French-speaking Creoles, refugees from Saint-Domingue(now Haiti) who fled the revolution.

At that time, federal troops underGeneral Benjamin Franklin Butler were occupying Louisiana as a resultof the American Civil War, having liberated African Americans in NewOrleans who had been in bondage. As a result, blacks could marrywhomever they chose, sit in any streetcar seat, and, briefly, attendintegrated schools.

As an adult, Plessy experienced thereversal of the gains achieved under the federal occupation,following the withdrawal of federal troops in 1877 on the orders ofU.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes.

Due to Plessy's appearance as white,Plessy could have ridden in a railroad car restricted to peopleclassified as white. However, under the racial policies of the time,he was an "octoroon" having 1/8th African-Americanheritage and therefore was considered black. Hoping to strike downsegregation laws, the Citizens' Committee of New Orleans (Comitédes Citoyens) recruited Plessy to deliberately violate Louisiana's1890 separate-car law. To pose a clear test, the Citizens'Committee gave notice of Plessy's intent to the railroad, whichopposed the law because it required adding more cars to its trains.

On June 7, 1892, Plessy bought afirst-class ticket on a train from New Orleans and sat in the car forwhite riders only. The Committee had hired a private detective witharrest powers to take Plessy off the train at Press and Royalstreets, to ensure that he was charged with violating the state'sseparate-car law and not some other misdemeanor.

Everything that the Committee hadorganized occurred as planned, except for the decision of the SupremeCourt in 1896:

By then the composition of the U.S.Supreme Court had gained a more segregationist tilt, and thecommittee knew it would likely lose. But it chose to press the causeanyway, [author Keith] Medley said. "It was a matter of honor forthem, that they fight this to the very end."

Biography

Homère Plessy was born on March 17,1862, in New Orleans, to Joseph Adolphe Plessy and Rosa Debergue,members of New Orleans' French-speaking Creole society. Another inthis Creole society was Plessy's compatriot Walter L. Cohen, whoobtained an appointment as customs inspector from U.S. PresidentWilliam McKinley.