U.S. Supreme Court in 1882. Justice Harlan stands second from right. Photo by C. M. Bell. KHS Collections.
The Kentucky General Assembly provided for racial segregation in railroad passenger cars by an act approved on March 15, 1892. The law stipulated that all passenger trains operating in the state must clearly label each coach as “colored” or “white.” When the act was challenged in court, federal judge John W. Barr ruled in 1894 that the act was unconstitutional because it interfered with interstate commerce; however, in a similar case in 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate coaches were legal, with Kentuckian John Marshall Harlan dissenting.
U.S. Supreme Court in 1882. Justice Harlan stands second from right. Photo by C. M. Bell. KHS Collections.
