RACISM + HISTORY
How A Creole Man Became the Test Case For Racial Segregation
Remembering Homère Plessy's bravery in challenging the color barrier
Are you Black, White, or Creole? Those are the questions you might still hear if you come to New Orleans, the city Homère Plessy called home in the mid-1800s. Throughout history, mixed-race people in Louisiana were kept to the same sociopolitical level as Black people, even if they could pass the Brown Paper Bag Test.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, the United States tried to turn over a new leaf, and during this period of Reconstruction, Congress passed The Civil Rights Act of 1866. It was still a racist bill for how it treated Indigenous people but did guarantee, "All persons born in the United States (except Indians) as national citizens entitled to the protection of all rights belonging to citizens."
Creole was a status separate from Black but not respected by White Southerners, many of whom called themselves Redeemers. Salty after losing the Civil War to the North, White people wanted to regain power by any means necessary. Homère Plessy was a toddler when the Civil War ended. Still, as 1/8th of a Black man, he had aspirations, as many Creole people did in New Orleans, that they could one day receive equal treatment…
