This plaque marks the site where Homer Plessy, in a carefully orchestrated act of civil disobedience, tried to board a whites-only train car. That action led to the 1896 Plessy v Ferguson trial, which legalized segregation under the ‘separate but equal’ rationale. The plaque was unveiled by Keith Plessy and Phoebe Ferguson, descendants of the opposing parties in the original trial, now fast friends.
Plessy, it should be noted, was one-eighth African American, and in the eyes of most 21st-century observers, would have been considered 'white.' But under the segregation laws of the time, he was still subject to 2nd-class seating based on his race. Indeed, it was Plessy's distinct racial identity – of white appearance, but of mixed heritage – that allowed him to challenge the policy of unequal treatment based on racial identity.
