Witnessing History: The Pardon of Homer Plessy

In conjunction with our panel, Witnessing History: The Pardon of Homer Plessy (presented in partnership with the Office of the Governor of Louisiana), the Gilder Lehrman Institute has compiled this list of resources on the Plessy v. Ferguson case, the history of discrimination, and the fight for civil rights in the United States.

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Primary Source Documents

• John Bel Edwards, “Grant of Posthumous Clemency to Homer A. Plessy Pursuant to the Avery C. Alexander Act,” January 5, 2022, State of Louisiana Executive Department
• Francis C. Barlow, New York State resolution ratifying the Fourteenth Amendment, 1867, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
• A letter from Frederick Douglass to Thomas B. Pugh on racism in the North, November 17, 1870, History Resources, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
• A letter from Frederick Douglass to an unknown recipient about Jim Crow laws, November 23, 1887, History Resources, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
• Louisiana State Legislature, The Avery C. Alexander Act (La. Stat. tit. 15 § 572.9), Casetext
• Record of Homer Plessy's Arrest, New Orleans Public Library Louisiana Division.
• Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana, Ex parte Plessy, University of New Orleans: Earl K. Long Library, Louisiana and Special Collections
• United States, Supreme Court Judgment in Plessy v. Ferguson, Record Group 267: Records of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1772–2007, National Archives

Historians’ Essays

• Edward L. Ayers, “‘Hidden Practices’: Frederick Douglass on Segregation and Black Achievement, 1887,” History Resources, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
• Gary L. Ford, Jr., “Constance Baker Motley: A Trailblazer in the Legal Profession,” History Now 57 (Summer 2020)
• Jonathan Holloway, “Jim Crow and the Great Migration,” History Resources, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
• Libby Neidenbach, “Homer Plessy and the Black activists who fought segregation all the way to the Supreme Court,” March 4, 2021, First Draft, The Historic New Orleans Collection
• Kendric Perkins, “Protests, politics, and a police chase: the fight to integrate streetcars in 1867,” March 2, 2021, First Draft, The Historic New Orleans Collection
• Charles L. Zelden, “Teaching the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” History Now 41 (Winter 2015)

Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources

• Dale Baumwoll, “Travels through Time: The Impact of Supreme Court Decisions on the Struggle for African American Equality,” History Resources, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
• “Guided Readings: African Americans after Slavery,” History Resources, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
• The Historic New Orleans Collection, “Segregation in New Orleans in 10 Objects” Virtual Field Trip
• Library of Congress, “Today in History: May 18: Plessy v. Ferguson”
• Louisiana Historical Markers:
  • Site of the Arrest of Homer Adolph Plessy (Historical Marker Database)
  • Site of the Integration of Southern Elementary School (Historic Marker Database)
  • Straight University (Researching Chinese American History in New Orleans) 
• Amy Nathan, Teaching and Activity Guide for Together: An Inspiring Response to the "Separate-but-Equal" Supreme Court Decision that Divided America

Podcasts

• The Kitchen Sisters Present, “The Pardoning of Homer Plessy,” November 16, 2021
• Live at the National Constitution Center, “The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson,” May 26, 2020
• Supreme Courts Landmark Series, “Brown v. Board of Education”

Videos

Scholars’ Lectures

• Kellie Carter Jackson, Charles McKinney, and Yohuru Williams, “The History of Race Relations in America: African American Experiences, 1878–Present,” History Resources, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
• Larry Kramer, “The Legal Battle for Racial Equality, 1787–1954,” History Resources, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Book Breaks (a Gilder Lehrman Institute program)

• Mia Bay discussing Traveling Black: A Story of Race and Resistance
• David Blight discussing Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom
• Martha S. Jones discussing Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All
• Khalil Gibran Muhammad discussing The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America
• Clint Smith discussing How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery across America