 Antoine became vice president of the New Orleans group, the "Comité des Citoyens" (Citizens' Committee), which was formed in 1890 to wage a legal battle against racial discrimination and the state constitution.The committee collected more than $2,000 to challenge the constitutionality of the 1890 Jim Crow compulsory segregation law passed by the Democratic-dominated legislature.The committee engaged Homer Plessy to test the public accommodations provision of the Louisiana law on an interstate train.