Plessy homer biography poetry

1862–1925

Quick Fact

FULL NAME: Homer Adolph Plessy
BORN: March 17, 1862
DIED: March 1, 1925
BIRTHPLACE: New Orleans, Louisiana

Who Was Homer Plessy?

Homer Plessy was a shoemaker whose one act of civil disobedience helped inspire future generations of the Civil Rights Movement.

He challenged Louisiana segregation legislation by refusing to move from a "whites only" railcar in 1896. His case was heard before the U.S. Supreme Court and arguments from it were used decades later in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954.

Early Days

Homer Adolph Plessy was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on March 17, 1862, to a family of mixed racial heritage.

Was homer plessy white

His family could pass for white and were considered "free people of color." Plessy thought of himself as 1/8 Black since his great-grandmother was from Africa. As a young man, Plessy worked as a shoemaker, and at age 25, he married Lousie Bordnave. Taking up social activism, in 1887,