Christina Kim

And those sensory descriptions can provide important details that are key to better understanding our history.

Yes, that Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court case that legalized separate but equal treatment. Segregation in the United States was founded in part on an argument based on racist perceptions of smell.

Yes, that Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court case that legalized separate but equal treatment. Segregation in the United States was founded in part on an argument based on racist perceptions of smell.

Yes, that Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court case that legalized separate but equal treatment. Segregation in the United States was founded in part on an argument based on racist perceptions of smell.

So to understand, we have to go back to Louisiana in 1890.

So to understand, we have to go back to Louisiana in 1890.

So to understand, we have to go back to Louisiana in 1890.

An educated, wealthy Black and Creole population is thriving.

An educated, wealthy Black and Creole population is thriving.

An educated, wealthy Black and Creole population is thriving.

Segregation was a key part of a larger system that would later be called Jim Crow. It was a wide-ranging effort to reverse the progress Black people had made since emancipation. To achieve that, a strict separation of life for Black and white people was enforced. Separate entrances, separate schools, and one of the most public spaces at that time, railroad cars.

Segregation was a key part of a larger system that would later be called Jim Crow. It was a wide-ranging effort to reverse the progress Black people had made since emancipation. To achieve that, a strict separation of life for Black and white people was enforced. Separate entrances, separate schools, and one of the most public spaces at that time, railroad cars.

Segregation was a key part of a larger system that would later be called Jim Crow. It was a wide-ranging effort to reverse the progress Black people had made since emancipation. To achieve that, a strict separation of life for Black and white people was enforced. Separate entrances, separate schools, and one of the most public spaces at that time, railroad cars.

a group of prominent Black leaders, the Citizens Committee, came together and organized to specifically challenge this segregation law on train cars. So the group decided the best way to do this is to create a setup to stage an act of disobedience that will allow them to bring a case to court to challenge the law and ultimately have it struck down. Think Rosa Parks.

a group of prominent Black leaders, the Citizens Committee, came together and organized to specifically challenge this segregation law on train cars. So the group decided the best way to do this is to create a setup to stage an act of disobedience that will allow them to bring a case to court to challenge the law and ultimately have it struck down. Think Rosa Parks.

a group of prominent Black leaders, the Citizens Committee, came together and organized to specifically challenge this segregation law on train cars. So the group decided the best way to do this is to create a setup to stage an act of disobedience that will allow them to bring a case to court to challenge the law and ultimately have it struck down. Think Rosa Parks.

So in order to do this, they needed someone that could blur the lines of segregation.

So in order to do this, they needed someone that could blur the lines of segregation.

So in order to do this, they needed someone that could blur the lines of segregation.

Homer Plessy. He was a shoemaker, an activist, born into a family of French-speaking Louisiana Creole people.