In 2010, after the publication of my “turnaround” book, “The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education,” I was invited to speak at Dillard University, a historically black university in New Orleans. Two events about that occasion were memorable. After I spoke, a woman in the audience got up to speak, and she said, “First they stole our democracy, then they stole our schools.” Later, during the post-lecture reception, I met a white woman whose last name was Ferguson and a black man whose last name was Plessy. They were descendants of the two principals in the historic Supreme Court case of 1896 that approved state laws requiring separate-but-equal public facilities.

The Plessy and Ferguson I met had joined to create an organization to fight for social justice.

“When Keith Plessy and Phoebe Ferguson decided to start a new civil rights education organization that would bear their famous names, they sealed the deal in a fitting local spot: Cafe Reconcile.

“They represent the opposing principals in one of the Supreme Court’s landmark decisions, Plessy v. Ferguson , which upheld the constitutionality of Jim Crow laws mandating segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. It stood from 1896 until the court’s historic Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954.

“The descendent of the man who tested Louisiana’s law requiring separate railroad cars for whites and blacks and the great-great-granddaughter of the judge who upheld it met in 2004.

“The truth is, no reconciliation was required.

“The first thing I said to her,” recalled Plessy, “was, ‘Hey, it’s no longer Plessy versus Ferguson. It’s Plessy and Ferguson.’ ”

“Her first reaction was to apologize.

“I don’t know why,” she said in an interview. “It’s just that I felt the burden of it, this great injustice.”

“Plessy’s response?

“I said, ‘You weren’t alive during that time. I wasn’t either. It’s time for us to change that whole image.’ ”

What an amazing turn of the historic wheel! Plessy v. Ferguson had become Plessy and Ferguson, teamed up for good causes.

Phoebe Ferguson, great-great-granddaughter of the judge who upheld the Plessy v Ferguson decision, is now an outspoken advocate for public education and the right to a free and appropriate education for all children. She was executive producer of  “The Perfect Storm: The Takeover of New Orleans Public Schools,” a series of short videos that reveal the true story behind the creation of the nation’s first all-charter school district. The Plessy and Ferguson Foundation sponsored the series.

Each video is short. Together, they are an effective counter to the multi-million dollar marketing campaign that has sold the public and the media the myth of the “miracle” of New Orleans.

I am not posting any more today so that you will have the time to see all the videos in this series.