Separate But Equal: Homer Plessy and the Case That Upheld the Color Line

In June of 1882, a 30-year-old shoemaker by the name of Homer Plessy of New Orleans led a revolution that aimed to overturn Jim Crow segregation laws.

Plessy, who was said to be 1/8 black, entered the white’s only car while on a train. When asked to move to the colored car, Plessy refused. Following his arrest, a group of citizens used his arrest to fight Jim Crow segregation laws. Facing defeat at every turn, the battle raged on all the way up to the Supreme Court in the 1896 case, Plessy v. Ferguson.

Hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. — with additional historical commentary from Farrah Griffin of Columbia University and Sherrilyn Ifill of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund — we discuss the journey of abolishing Separate but Equal in this episode of Black History in Two Minutes or So.

Executive Producers:
• Robert F. Smith
• Henry Louis Gates Jr.
• Dyllan McGee
• Deon Taylor

Archival Materials Courtesy of:
• Alamy Images
• Everett Collection, Inc.
• Getty Images
• Library of Congress
• Shutterstock

Music by:
Oovra Music

Be Woke presents (https://bewoke.vote) is brought to you by Robert F. Smith and Deon Taylor.

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