(Source: W.W. Norton)
W.W. Norton has
published a new book about the case of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
ABOUT THE BOOK
A myth-shattering narrative of how a nation
embraced "separation" and its pernicious consequences.
Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court case synonymous with
“separate but equal,” created remarkably little stir when the justices
announced their near-unanimous decision on May 18, 1896. Yet it is one of the
most compelling and dramatic stories of the nineteenth century, whose outcome
embraced and protected segregation, and whose reverberations are still felt
into the twenty-first.
Separate spans a striking range of characters and
landscapes, bound together by the defining issue of their time and ours—race
and equality. Wending its way through a half-century of American history, the
narrative begins at the dawn of the railroad age, in the North, home to the
nation’s first separate railroad car, then moves briskly through slavery and
the Civil War to Reconstruction and its aftermath, as separation took root in
nearly every aspect of American life.
Award-winning author Steve Luxenberg draws from
letters, diaries, and archival collections to tell the story of Plessy
v. Ferguson through the eyes of the people caught up in the
case. Separate depicts indelible figures such as the resisters
from the mixed-race community of French New Orleans, led by Louis Martinet, a
lawyer and crusading newspaper editor; Homer Plessy’s lawyer, Albion Tourgée, a
best-selling author and the country’s best-known white advocate for civil
rights; Justice Henry Billings Brown, from antislavery New England, whose
majority ruling endorsed separation; and Justice John Harlan, the Southerner
from a slaveholding family whose singular dissent cemented his reputation as a
steadfast voice for justice.
Sweeping, swiftly paced, and richly
detailed, Separate provides a fresh and urgently-needed
exploration of our nation’s most devastating divide.
More information here
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