The Cabildo Museum
Neoclassical Spanish colonial courthouse whose upstairs chamber decided the case that upheld segregation nationwide.
Location
About this audio guide
The Cabildo Museum's guide climbs to the upstairs chamber in New Orleans where, in January 1893, Louisiana's Supreme Court ruled on Homer Plessy, a shoemaker who had boarded a whites-only train car on purpose to force the question of what a color line meant. You'll hear how his case was engineered by local activists and how it climbed the same stairs behind you before reaching the US Supreme Court a few years later. The guide also traces this building's older role as a Spanish colonial council chamber and the 1803 ceremony that transferred the territory to the United States. Look up at the roof and cupola above you, rebuilt after a welder's torch started a fire here in 1988.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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