The Louisiana Board of Pardons on Friday unanimously voted to pardon Homer Plessy, whose decision to sit in a 'whites-only' railroad car to protest discrimination led to the US Supreme Court's 1896 'separate but equal' ruling.
The pardon comes 125 years after the ruling in the Plessy v. Ferguson case, which cemented racial segregation in public spaces until it was overruled by the Supreme Court in 1954.
Officials sent the pardon recommendation to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards for final approval.
His office told the Washington Post he was traveling 'but looks forward to receiving and reviewing the recommendation of the Board upon his return.'
The pardon recommendation came as New Orleans began a weekend marking the tumultuous integration of its public schools on November 14, 1960, six years after the Supreme Court's Brown v. the Board of Education decision, which led to the widespread desegregation of schools and the eventual stripping away of Jim Crow laws.
Keith Plessy, a descendant of Plessy's cousin, said he felt as if 'his feet weren't touching the ground' when he learned of the Board's recommendation.
'Not only is this 125 years of long-time-coming,' Keith, 64, said. 'But the way things have happened at such a rapid pace just lets you know that [Plessy and the civil rights group he was working with] were right.'
The Louisiana Board of Pardons on Friday unanimously voted to pardon Homer Plessy (burial marekr pictured above), whose decision to sit in a 'whites-only' railroad car to protest discrimination led to the US Supreme Court's 1896 'separate but equal' ruling
Keith Plessy and Phoebe Ferguson (pictured together in 2011) - descendants of the principals in the Plessy V. Ferguson court case - said they are hopeful that the Louisiana governor will approve the pardon, alleging the decision 'could be something for him to hang his hat on'
Plessy, described in the Supreme Court opinion as of 'one-eighth African blood,' was arrested in 1892 after boarding the train car as part of an effort by civil rights activists to challenge a state law that mandated segregated seating.
The 18-member Citizens Committee was trying to overcome laws that rolled back post-Civil War advances in equality.
Plessy - a 30-year-old shoemaker who was said to have lacked the business, political and educational accomplishments of most of the other committee members - pleaded guilty to violating the Separate Car Act a year later and was fined $25.
He died in 1925 with the conviction still on his record.
Keith and Phoebe Ferguson, the great-great-granddaughter of Judge John Howard Ferguson who oversaw Plessy's case in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, now lead a nonprofit - the Plessy and Ferguson Foundation - that advocates for civil rights education.
'We cannot undo the wrongs of the past but we can and should acknowledge them,' Phoebe Ferguson told the pardon board.
The descendants said they are hopeful that Gov. Edwards will approve the pardon, alleging the decision 'could be something for him to hang his hat on.'
The Louisiana Board of Pardons has sent their recommendation to Gov. John Bel Edwards for final approval
The governor's office said he was traveling 'but looks forward to receiving and reviewing the recommendation of the Board upon his return'
Plessy was arrested on June 7, 1892 after he purchased a first-class ticket on the 4.15pm train from New Orleans to Covington, Louisiana and attempted to enjoy the ride from the first-class car.
