may 18, 1896 - Plessey v. Ferguson was a supreme court in 1896 that ruled that ‘Separate but Equal” facilities were constitutional. This court case began when Homer Plessey (a mixed-raced man) challenged Louisiana’s Separate Car Act of 1890 by entering a “whites only” car. This event Strengthened racial segregation laws and would be a decision for the supreme court to look back on all the way until the civil rights movement (Timeline)