Homer Plessy
Full Name
Homer Adolph Plessy
Date of Birth
March 17, 1862
Place of Birth
Date of Death
March 1, 1925
Place of Death
Education
Not available
Spouses Names
Louise Bordnave (m. 1887)
Children Names
Not available
Parents Names
- Father: Joseph Adolphe Plessy
- Mother: Rosa Debergue Plessy
Homer Plessy was a shoemaker and civil rights activist best known for his role in the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case. Plessy, who was of mixed racial heritage and could pass for white, deliberately challenged Louisiana’s segregation laws by refusing to leave a “whites only” railcar in 1892. His case eventually went to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the “separate but equal” doctrine was established, upholding state segregation laws for over half a century until they were finally overturned by the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954.Plessy’s act of civil disobedience was a pivotal moment in the struggle for civil rights in America, and his legacy is commemorated in New Orleans with “Homer A. Plessy Day” and a park named in his honor. His case has also been a point of reflection and education on the history of civil rights in the United States