Separate and Unequal: Homer Plessy and the Supreme Court Decision that Legalized Racism [Hardcover]

Harvey Fireside (Author), Marc H. Morial (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 10, 2003

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

When Homer Plessy, a fair-skinned black man, challenged the laws on separate accommodations in 1892, he triggered a process that would eventually codify separate but equal as a national doctrine of racism. Civil rights historian Fireside explores the social and historical context in which Plessy challenged the mistreatment of blacks--and eventually lost. Fireside details the lives of Plessy and the Creole community of free people of color who resisted the erosion of their hard-won civil equality and economic independence during Reconstruction. He also portrays Plessy's attorney, Albion W. Tourgee, characterized at the time as a carpetbagger, who took on the case at no charge. But the temperament of the Supreme Court had shifted back to the pre-Civil War view of states' rights and was influenced as well by concerns with reconciling with the South for the sake of the nation's economic development. The separate-but-equal doctrine would stand until Plessy was overturned in 1954 by the Brown decision. This is an engrossing account of a shameful ruling. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Unpacks the ignominious story of how the American court system legalized injustice--[S]moothly narrates the history of the case...while backgrounding us about Southern politics from the Civil War to the Civil Rights era." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf (December 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786712937
• ISBN-13: 978-0786712939
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #744,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #91 in Books > Law > Constitutional Law > Discrimination

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars History of systematic segregation in the south., November 9, 2011

By 

James E. Kennedy (Fayetteville, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Separate and Unequal: Homer Plessy and the Supreme Court Decision that Legalized Racism (Paperback)

An unfortunate book that reviews how the south was able to manipulate the courts and state rights into a legal system the US government did not find fit to change til 1964. It is not an easy read due to its legal content. It does show how the separate but equal rule had been misapplied.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read, March 5, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Separate and Unequal: Homer Plessy and the Supreme Court Decision that Legalized Racism (Hardcover)

Mr. Fireside does an incredible job turning historical information into an exciting read for anyone interested in this embarrassing court decision. His easy to read style makes the story come alive and it is clear that he spent a great deal of time researching the events in the book. I strongly recommend this book.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly written, half-heartedly analyzed and apparently unedited., June 14, 2011

By 

Jonathan Levy - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Separate and Unequal: Homer Plessy and the Supreme Court Decision that Legalized Racism (Paperback)

I must disagree with the other review. I find this book inherently unreadable. Fireside's arguments are inadequate for the weight of this topic, and rather than give a complete picture of Mr. Plessy and the Supreme Court Justices involved in the decision (as the title may suggest the book will discuss), Professor Fireside spends fully one third of the book examining the fall out from Plessy. None of the product reviews hint that so much time will be spent discussing Brown v. BOE or the left-wing preaching in which Fireside engages towards the end. Homer Plessy, in fact, is such a minor character in this story that his portrait is not even included in the photo insert. Furthermore, any errors in interpretation in typography, however superficial they may be are forgivable, except one. Midway through the book, Fireside accurately states that Justice Brewer recused himself for an unknown reason (even though many claim there was a reason, his daughter's death, to which Fireside makes no allusion), but Fireside later says that Brewer ruled AGAINST Plessy. This self-contradictory drivel is easily edited out, yet it made its way into the book anyway. I will certainly be looking for another Plessy book, and I suggest you do to.