Draft:The Pardon of Homer Plessy

In 1892, Homer Plessy boarded a whites-only railway car in New Orleans, Louisiana in protest of Louisiana’s Separate Car Act. Consequently, he was arrested as a criminal. The ruling in his trial, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), was upheld by the United States Supreme Court and reaffirmed racial segregation under the “Separate but Equal” doctrine.

In January 2022, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards issued a posthumous pardon to Homer Plessy. The pardon was issued in accordance with "The Avery C. Alexander Act.' This 2006 act was passed by the Louisiana Legislature to expedite the pardon process for individuals who were criminalized and convicted under Louisiana laws created for the purpose of maintaining or enforcing racial separation or discrimination of individuals.