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This is our American Stories, and we love to tell stories about our nation's history. And as always, all of our stories about history are brought to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College. where you can go to learn all the things that matter in life, all the things that are beautiful in life. And if you can't get to Hillsdale. Hillsdale will come to you with their free and terrific online courses.
Go to hillsdale.edu. And as you know, we like to bring you events that shaped our country and some for the better. and some for the worst. And through it all there have been people fighting, fighting for the promises made. in our Constitution.
Sometimes the battles we fought have been loss. Today, Robbie brings us the story of the Plessy v. Ferguson case. and a Supreme Court decision that solidified segregation. for over fifty years.
It's told by a descendant of Homer Plessy himself, Keith Plessy. Here's the story. Separate but equal. It's a phrase that haunted African Americans for years. The right to separate individuals, restaurants, businesses, train cars, buses.
based on the color of one's skin. Separate but equal was not a policy left over from the Civil War. It wasn't until more than 30 years after the Civil War that segregation became the law of the land. But not all states filling in at the same time. and in New Orleans, Louisiana.
There was a man named Homer Plessy who would, with the help of the country, fight for the equality that black citizens had tasted for a brief moment. Uh My name is Keith. Plessy. I am a fourth generation descendant of Homer, Plessy. plaintiff in the Plessy v.
Ferguson case. of 1896. La-la-la-la. Omar Plessy was born in 1863, March 17th. The same year.
that Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. He grew up. In a turbulent time, Civil War was when he was an infant. Post-Civil War was his younger life. where he experienced uh Reconstruction in Louisiana.
being protected by the Union soldiers. They were able to attend the same schools as white citizens. There were three additions to the U.S. Constitution. amendments.
The the thirteenth the Fourteenth and the Fifteenth Amendments. Those amendments came during Reconstruction. Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery. 14th Amendment. equal protection.
the laws. And the Fifteenth Amendment was the right to vote.
So those three things occurred during Reconstruction and Homer Plessy was a young man experiencing those changes.
So it was developing him. To not only enjoy the freedoms that came, through reconstruction. but to defend those rights. when they were being taken away. And during his childhood, many protesters and Uh activist of his time.
set the pace for him when he became a young man. Yeah. Homer Plessy's father. Died at a young age, and Homer Plessy was about six years old when his father passed away. his mother remarried into a family.
called the Dewports. Victor Duport was part of the unification movement, and Victor Duport's father-in-law. Was part of the unification movement. That movement combined white and black workers. who protested for equal pay.
And they got it during Reconstruction.
However, when Homer Plessy became a young man, those rights were slowly deteriorating. and Homer Plessy attended these meetings with his stepfather. Victor Duport. Uh Mm. And he was familiar with the Citizens Committee, but he was not a member of the Citizens Committee.
That was a group of 18 lawyers, businessmen, prominent citizens. Mixed race organization. There were some white citizens, some African American citizens. long in the battle. for freedom.
I think their history goes back. Abolition, long before the Civil War, American Revolution. Who also participated in the Battle of New Orleans. That citizens' committee had a deep background in fighting for freedom. A lot of those Ancestors of the Citizens Committee who fought in the Plessy v.
Ferguson case at the turn of the century. were very much involved in the development of America. Homer Plessy himself. had a relative that was decorated in the American Revolution. his great-grandfather, was a gentleman by the name of Matthew DeVoe.
Matthew DeVoe was decorated four times in battle in the American Revolution, which not being recognized as the American Revolution. because Louisiana was still the Louisiana territory during the American Revolution.
So his history goes back, the right to fight for his freedom. was born with the country. And it was in his DNA. to battle. for his rights.
When 1890 rolled around, and Louisiana decided to jump into this segregation chain of laws that were spreading across. the South. Florida had adopted its segregation laws on trains. Uh Alabama had was before uh Louisiana. And when Louisiana adopted its uh separate call law was eighteen ninety.
and by eighteen ninety one a challenge was being presented to them. to change that law by the Citizens Committee here in New Orleans. Uh The Withdraw Car Act, or a Separate Car Act. Was a law passed in Louisiana that required railroad companies to provide equal but separate train car accommodations for blacks and whites. But Homer's case was not the first to challenge separate car laws.
Another man who was white-passing, Daniel Daydoon, boarded a first-class car traveling from New Orleans to Montgomery, Alabama. When Homer Plessy was selected, the state law was being challenged. The interstate law allowed trains outside the state of Louisiana, so it didn't apply. Separate call or didn't apply to those trains. But the trains that traveled within the state of Louisiana, the ones who were restricted, by race.
in each car.
Well, if you look at the Louisiana law as it was written, Um you had a first class car, That was designated for white citizens, and a second-class car that was designated for anyone of color. In the system of the East Louisiana Railroad. They would have preferred to sell all first-class tickets. as opposed to a separate car that had to be set up. Say for instance The white car was not full.
one black citizen comes up. to ride a train. You have to prepare another car. for this guy and you have a schedule to meet when your train is taking off. It's going from one area to another.
the delayed process. by changing the car, having to add a car. to the train. took off a lot of time from the schedule. which resulted in post-service.
So, you know, those who who wanted to exercise segregation. on those trains. Had to suffer. being late for the appointments.
So it didn't make sense. And you're listening to Keith Plessy. And what a story this is. And anyone who's ever read the case, and you can actually just type in Plessy v. Ferguson and read the opinion because it's astonishing.
And when we come back, we're going to continue. with Keith Plessy's voice and again a direct relative. A descendant. of Homer Plessy. And my goodness, it's a name you've heard.
But it's a real life person, and that's why we love telling you these stories. These were real life people. and without them doing what they did. things wouldn't have changed. And it took a lot of courage to do what he did.
When we come back, More of the story of Plessy V. Ferguson. as told. by Keith Flusher. Here on our American stories.
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If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America.
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Yeah. And we're back with our American stories and the story. of the US Supreme Court case probably the most infamous. the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case.
When we last left off, Homer Plessy was working with an organization to actually get caught.
so they could start the legal battle that would land them. At the Supreme Court? When one looked at Plessy, they couldn't tell if he was white or black, and this is part of how they hope to challenge the separation of individuals into white cars and black cars. Here's Homer's descendant, again, Keith Plessy. Continuing with this story.
Um Now That law also created another problem. which was how do you tell? that a person's black or a person's white. In New Orleans, you had so many citizens who who appeared to be white. but they were actually black.
and it was hard for the conductors to determine the race of someone. until today, it's still a problem because You know, I have a personal take on that, which I say that one of the most ridiculous rules that were developed back then was called the one-drop rule. That if you had one drop of African blood in your line, your genealogy line, that you were considered black. And in Homer Plessy's case, one of the most ridiculous things that they were saying was that he was one-eighth. black because of his great grandmother.
Agnes. who was a slave.
So he was considered An octoroon? Ugh. You know, I mean that's that's kind of ridiculous to try to have a meter. to measure someone's race. You know, it just it went into so many ridiculous that, you know, rather than being recognized as a human being, as a person.
Yeah. You had to talk about somebody's color, their skin, and you know. It just just didn't make any sense to me. Uh The Citizens Committee had already cut a deal with the East Louisiana Railroad. to work on this plan to change the law.
So when Homer Plessy approached that train station, He was already expected to arrive. He purchased his ticket without conflict. He entered the train, the train car which was designated for whites only. And He sat down. While the conductor and the arresting officer were also hired by the Citizens Committee and the Eastern Louisiana Railroad.
to arrest Homer Plessy, take him off that train.
so that they can challenge the law. He was bailed out because there was the bail was set.
so he could be released. The initial criminal case was overseen by Judge John Howard Ferguson, and he ruled that Louisiana was able to regulate their intrastate travel. in whatever manner they deemed fit. After the verdict was passed, the Citizens Committee stepped in and appealed the case up to the State Supreme Court. That result of the case was appealed.
to the U.S. Supreme Court and it was challenged in U.S. Supreme Court. by Homer Plessy and the Citizens Committee. And that that's when it became Plessy versus Ferguson.
and it became a national case. Uh What the Citizens Committee did to raise money to represent Holman Plessy. I think the phrase, if I can get it correct. was the uh Liberality of the rich and the might of the poor. combined.
So you had a list around the United States of people who sent a dollar. who sent $10.
Some people sent 50 cents. But everybody combined created the fun. to represent Homer Flessey in U.S. Supreme Court. And it was a national representation.
It was fought for about four years.
However, it was unsuccessful. as history would write it. The decision was separate but equal. became the law of the land. But in that instance a new era of civil rights pioneers were developing.
around the scene of that case, a fight that continued. to actually change the law. After separate but equal was adopted as the law of the land. many other areas that were not segregated. became segregated.
So it brought about A backward step. to America. Yeah. I think it was a crippling. situation, probably one of the worst, if not the worst, decisions.
at a point in American history where we could have actually turned the tables. on the inequalities that the country was producing. at the same time with this narrative of Uh Equal Justice for all. it was not being practiced. at that time and it was given teeth.
Jim Crow gave teeth Segregation teeth. to bite into American society. in every facet possible. I mean you had drinking fountains. Uh parks.
then allow you to come into certain areas. Even when I was a kid, there was a park that exercised weekends. Uh for white kids and Black kids had to squeeze in a little time in the park. during the week. after school.
and the weekends where everybody was out of school. we couldn't go in that talk. I was born in So that's a long time after 1896. Um and you know it was still affecting my life as a kid. growing up in New Orleans.
Eventually, Brown versus Board of Education. changed Homer Plessy's case. The Plessy decision changed the landscape of civil rights law at that point. but transportation still was not. changed until maybe the 60s.
Uh when you had uh the Civil Rights Act signed, there were still buses being attacked.
So the transportation issue. was not solved. It was education in Brown v. Board. I remember as a child in elementary school being told that I was related to homoplessy.
One of my teachers who I can remember, Miss Waters, she brought the phone book into the room. And while we were talking about Plessy versus Ferguson, She Looked at my name, stood me up in front of the class, and told the kids: Keith's last name is spelled just like Homer Plessis. But it wasn't until much later that Keith realized how closely related he was. to Homer. 1996, when I met author Keith Weldon Medley.
And this gentleman was doing research on Homer Plessy, who he had done extensive research, and his book was being developed. It's called We As Freeman. Plessy v. Ferguson, the fight against segregation. And his Book.
entailed the genealogy of Homer Plessis' family. And that's when I really found out My connection to home plus through my great-grandfather. And also, at the same time, he was doing research on Judge John Howard Ferguson. And not long after, Phoebe Ferguson, Judge Ferguson's great-great-granddaughter. and Keith Plessy, whose great-grandfather was Homer Plessy's cousin.
would mean. He invited us to his book signing. which we had never seen or known of each other before then. and at his book signing we met for the first time. And When I first met Miss Ferguson, she I shook her hand and she began to apologize for Slavery.
segregation and anything that ever went wrong during racial relations. And I kind of interrupted her and said, hey, it's not our fault that those things happen. we can do something different. It's no longer Plessy versus Ferguson. as Plessy and Ferguson.
So we became friends at that instant. And we've been friends ever since. It took us from Two thousand Four to when we actually um develop the foundation. We signed our letters of incorporation at a restaurant called Cafe Reconcile. When we signed our papers there, We didn't realize that on July 9th, We were signing those papers.
Fourteenth Amendment. It was adopted to the U.S. Constitution. on July the 9th, 1868. And great job as always to Robbie.
And the Plessy and Ferguson Foundation is doing a lot to educate folks. Together, Keith Plessy and Phoebe Ferguson. Are spreading their message that their mutual history can be a tool to create unity and understanding. I wanted to read you the lone dissenting opinion. Everyone knows that the statute in question.
had its origin in the purpose not so much to exclude white people from railroad cars occupied by blacks, but as to exclude colored people from coaches occupied by or assigned to white people. Our Constitution is colorblind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law, The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law regards man as man and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved. And that is, Justice Harlan dissenting.
and Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. Plessy v. Ferguson is told by Keith Plessy. the story here on Our American Stories.
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