[1] On May 17, 1942, Elmer W. Henderson, an African-American passenger, was travelling first-class on the Southern Railway from Washington to Atlanta en route to Birmingham in the course of his duties as an employee of the United States.

At about 5:30 pm, while the train was in Virginia, the first call to dinner was announced and he went promptly to the dining car.

Under practices then in effect, the two end tables nearest the kitchen were to be reserved initially for African Americans with curtains drawn between them and the rest of the car.

While the Commission acknowledged that he had been subjected to undue and unreasonable prejudice and disadvantage, it dismissed the occurrence as a casual incident brought about by the bad judgment of an employee and refused to enter an order as to future practices.

The US Supreme Court did not rule on the constitutionality of "separate but equal" in this instance but did find that the railroad had failed to provide the passenger with the same level of service provided to a white passenger with the same class of ticket, a violation of principles already established in Mitchell v. United States (1941).