Plessy v. Ferguson Historical Marker (Press Street Railroad Yards)

The historical marker at the corner of Press and Royal Streets sits near the former site of the Press Street railroad yards. On June seventh, eighteen ninety-two, a thirty-year-old shoemaker named Homer Plessy arrived here to purchase a first-class ticket for an East Louisiana Railroad train bound for Covington. Plessy, a Creole of color, was selected by a local civil rights group called the Comité des Citoyens to challenge the state’s Separate Car Act, which mandated racial segregation on common carriers.