Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Why Homer Plessy? 

1. "Seven-eighths Caucasian and one-eighth African"
----
"the mixture of colored blood was not discernible"

2. Approached by Citizens’ Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law (a New Orleans group of blacks and Creoles) because they thought Plessy's whiteness might make him a more sympathetic plaintiff

3.  How did the railroad know Plessy was colored?
----Test case (arrest was pre-arranged)


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Plessy 1

Exploring Constitutional Law