WeekInTime Issue 63: A Supreme Mistake

Homer Plessy is arrested for sitting in a segregated railway car in 1892

A black man sat in a first-class cabin, surrounded by white passengers. Making his way through the cabin, the train conductor approached the man and asked if he was “colored.” The man knew what would come next. This week in time, Homer Plessy was arrested for sitting in a segregated railway car, kicking off the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson case.