Synopses & Reviews
The historical drama behind Plessy v. Ferguson, the 1896 Supreme Court decision that legalized a supposedly "separate but equal," racist society. When Homer A. Plessy, a New Orleans shoemaker, refused to move to the "Jim Crow" railroad car set aside for Negroes by state law, he initiated a lawsuit challenging the entire system of racial segregation. In Separate but Unequal, Harvey Fireside traces the roots of the Supreme Court decision that enshrined racial separation in America for the next sixty years and which still affects today's social divisions, notably in the debate about "affirmative action" in education. Fireside uncovers little-known areas of U.S. history, such as the remarkable Black Creole community that flourished as a distinct culture after Louisiana was purchased from France and Spain. Well-educated and prosperous, they threw in their lot with recently freed Negroes in the 1890s, because new racist laws relegated them both to second-class citizenship. Among the "carpetbaggers," demonized in standard history texts as corrupt and greedy Northern agents, Fireside reveals true idealists like Albion W. Tourgee, who argued Plessy's case without fee to the Supreme Court. Seven justices there approved segregation laws as part of the folkways enshrined in Southern life. Only Justice John Marshall Harlan, a former slave owner, dissented, memorably puncturing the hypocrisy behind a law claiming to provide "separate but equal" accommodations, which were in fact inferior and racist. After years of baseless constitutional interpretations denying Negroes civil rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, the Warren Court overturned Plessy in 1954, although it took another decade to beginenforcement of desegregation in the South. Separate but Unequal argues that despite tangible benefits to African Americans in the wake of Brown v. Board of Education, America faces a resurgence of racial divisions--a reversal of progress in education, economic opportunity, and the equal distribution of social rights.
Synopsis
A narrative history of the epochal 1896 civil rights case Plessy v. Ferguson, in which the Supreme Court tragically rule in favor of "separate but equal" social accommodations, giving legitimacy to a racist system that lasted until Brown. v. Board of Education in the 1950s. Published in Black History Month 2004.
Synopsis
When Homer A. Plessy, a New Orleans shoemaker, refused to move to the "Jim Crow" railroad car set aside for Negroes by state law, he initiated a lawsuit challenging the entire system of racial segregation. In Separate but Unequal, Harvey Fireside traces the roots of the Supreme Court decision that enshrined racial separation in America for the next sixty years. He uncovers little-known areas of U.S. history, such as the remarkable Black Creole community that flourished as a distinct culture after Louisiana was purchased from France and Spain. Well-educated and prosperous, they threw in their lot with recently freed Negroes in the 1890s, because new racist laws relegated them both to second-class citizenship. Among the "carpetbaggers," demonized in history as corrupt and greedy Northerners, Fireside reveals true idealists like Albion Tourgee, who argued Plessy's case without fee to the Supreme Court. Seven justices there approved segregation laws, but Justice John Marshall Harlan — a former slave owner — dissented. He memorably punctured the hypocrisy behind a law claiming to provide "separate but equal" accommodations, which were actually inferior and racist. Unfortunately, as this book argues, these standards for African Americans still exist. Photographs are featured in this compelling historical drama.