Separate but equal
Florida was the first to pass a law requiring railroads to provide “equal but separate accommodations for the white, and colored, races”. Soon, Texas, Mississippi and other states had the same or similar laws. In 1890, when Louisiana passed a similar law, blacks began resisting. In 1892 it was agreed Homer Plessy would challenge the laws in order to form a test case. Plessy "passed" for white and while riding on an East Louisiana train in the "white section" announced he was black and refused to move to the "colored" section. Plessy was arrested and 1896 his case reached the Supreme Court. The case was Plessy v. Ferguson, Fergusson being the name of the Judge who first ruled against him in the New Orleans Criminal District Court.