Judge John Howard Ferguson
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John Howard Ferguson was a lawyer and judge from Louisiana, most famous as the defendant in the Plessy v. Ferguson case. Ferguson was born on June 10, 1838 in Chilmark/Tisbury, Massachusetts. Him and his wife (Virginia Ferguson) moved to the community of Burtheville, LA. John and Virginia raised three children in a suburban life in a cottage that John helped build. Just as Plessy was a socially involved character in civil rights, Ferguson was part of the Knights of Pyithia (a charitable organization founded by Congress to reunite Northerners and Southerners). Ferguson did not think the case was very important so he postponed the case. On October 13, 1890, all the important players (including Homer Plessy, his attorney, James Walker, Louis Martinet and Rodolphe Desdunes), and the prosecuting attorney, Lionel Adams, appeared in front of Judge Ferguson in the Criminal Courts Building. Ferguson considered Plessy guilty because he thought the state had the right to make decisions on passing segregation policies.