mar 17, 1896 - Plessy v Ferguson

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Plessy had a great-grandfather who was black, but he looked white. At the time, there were "one-drop" laws that meant that Plessy was considered legally black.

In an attempt to challenge segregation laws, he sat in an all-white train car. His lawyers notified the train company and hired a detective to arrest him.

Plessy then argued that his constitutional rights were violated. His case made it to SCOTUS; the court ruled against him and upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine.

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