The Case and Key People
Who was the petitioner that was arrested for sitting in a white-only train car?
Who was Homer Plessy?
What 1890 Louisiana law did Homer Plessy challenge when he boarded the train?
What was the Separate Car Act?
In what year was the Plessy v. Ferguson decision made by the Supreme Court?
What is 1896?
What was the official voting record of the Supreme Court justices in Plessy v. Ferguson?
What was 7-1?
Were facilities reserved for African Americans actually equal to those reserved for white Americans under Jim Crow?
No, they were consistently inferior and underfunded.
What did Homer Plessy work as in New Orleans?
What was a shoemaker?
Which Constitutional Amendment abolished slavery in the U.S?
What was the Separate Car Act?
Before the Separate Car Act, what unique status did many free Black people in New Orleans hold during the early 19th century?
They could choose their schools, marry freely, and work as professionals.
What legal doctrine was established by the Supreme Court’s ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson?
What is “separate but equal”?
Name two public places besides train cars that became segregated as a result of Jim Crow laws.
What are schools, restaurants, bathrooms, or water fountains?
Who was the Louisiana state judge whose name appears in court title?
Who was John Howard Ferguson?
Which Constitutional Amendment guarantees citizenship rights and “equal protection of the laws”?
What is the 14th Amendment?
What was Homer Plessy’s leadership role in New Orleans before he agreed to challenge the Separate Car Act?
What was Vice president of the Justice, Protective, Educational, and Social Club?
Who was the single Supreme Court Justice to vote against the majority opinion?
Who was Justice John Marshall Harlan?
What 1954 Supreme Court case finally overturned Plessy v. Ferguson?
What was Brown v. Board of Education?
What local group of activists organized the protest and hired a detective to arrest Plessy?
What was the Citizens’ Committee?
What name was given to the laws passed in the South after 1865 that enforced racial segregation in public places?
What were Jim Crow laws?
Why did the Citizens’ Committee specifically need to hire a private detective during Homer Plessy’s protest on the train?
To make sure Plessy was officially arrested on the spot so they had a legal case to challenge in court.
Justice Harlan stated that “our Constitution should be…” what?
What is “color-blind”?
What did the Supreme Court rule about segregated public schools in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision?
Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.
The 1882 arrest of Homer Plessy took place in this Louisiana city after he bought a ticket and sat in a "white-only" train car.
What is New Orleans?
What specific local laws, passed between 1865-1866, aimed to force formerly enslaved Black people back into plantation labor?
What were the Black codes?
Louisiana’s unique history gave rise to a diverse, multiracial population of which four primary cultural and racial groups?
What were French, English, Black, and Native American?
How many years did Plessy v. Ferguson protect legal segregation and white supremacy before being overturned?
What is nearly 70 years?
What specific local institution did Plessy’s club aim to improve in New Orleans, besides improving rights on transportation?
What was the public education system?