Today, I had the privilege of being present at the pardoning of Homer Plessey, the black man in New Orleans who took a stand by sitting down in a whites only train car in NOLA in 1892. The case ushered in decades of white supremacy. Plessey died a convict. Today, he is no longer.
Descendants of Plessy & Ferguson, the judge who convicted Plessey, were at the ceremony today along with a descendent of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan who was the loan dissenting voice in Plessy versus Ferguson which led to Jim Crow laws. cbsnews.com/news/louisiana…
The ceremony happened at the NOLA station where Homer Plessy boarded a whites only car in 1892. It was a set up. The citizens committee in New Orleans had plotted with Plessy & even the train company to stage this sit in as an act of civil disobedience. 
Their point was to force an arrest which would lead to a lower court conviction and ultimately an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Following the Supreme Court decision, Louisiana legislators held a constitutional convention where white supremacy was enshrined in new law.
Following the Supreme Court decision, Louisiana legislators held a constitutional convention where white supremacy was enshrined in new law.
One of the terrible things Louisiana did as a result of Plessey v Ferguson was change “Louisiana’s long-standing practice of requiring unanimous jury verdicts to send people to jail. After the convention, only nine of 12 votes would be needed…” theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/ne…
That decision by Louisiana legislators to have non-unanimous jury verdicts made it easier to convict black people. And that vestige of white supremacy remained the law in Louisiana until 2018, when Louisiana voters rejected that Jim Crow era law. theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/ne…
The pardon of Homer Plessy
.@LouisianaGov did not want the pardon signing of Homer Plessy to be a private event. The Governor wanted it to be public, and one of Plessy’s descendants, Keith Plessy, who spoke at today’s ceremony, told me that meant the world to him.
gov.louisiana.gov/index.cfm/news…
gov.louisiana.gov/index.cfm/news…
Tomorrow on @CBSMornings our report marking the pardon of Homer Plessey.
We spent this week talking to the main players behind the scenes before @LouisianaGov issued the first posthumous pardon in state history.
Our story airs at 8 AM and there’s a surprise at the end.
We spent this week talking to the main players behind the scenes before @LouisianaGov issued the first posthumous pardon in state history.
Our story airs at 8 AM and there’s a surprise at the end.
Here’s our report (surprise at the end)
https://twitter.com/cbsmornings/status/1479444662641475584
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