John Marshall Harlan’s Dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson

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Throughout American History, many minorities have fallen victim to cruel discrimination and inequality, African Americans were one of such minorities that greatly suffered from the white majority’s upper hand. After the end of the Civil War and the Reconstruction period following it, many people, especially the Southern population, were extremely against African Americans obtaining equal rights in the American society. Due to this, these opponents did everything in their power to limit and even fully strip African Americans of their rights. The Supreme Court case of Plessy v Ferguson in 1896 is an excellent example of the obstacles put forth by the white population against their black counterparts in their long and arduous fight for civil liberty and equality. Even though the court upheld the discriminatory Louisiana law with an 8-1 decision, John Marshall Harlan’s dissent in the case played a significant role in the history of the United States for it predicted all the injustice African Americans would be forced to undergo for many more years, mainly due to this landmark decision. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the white majority made a great effort to eradicate all the progress made during the Reconstruction era, which granted African Americans equal rights. Those in politics named themselves Redeemers since they tried to redeem the South from the “misrule” and corruption of their precedents (those in favor of equality). Whites harshly punished them for petty crimes and their opportunities in politics slowly deteriorated. They also sought to deprive the African Americans of their basic rights, more specifically, voting rights. The dominant whites implemented laws that seemed to be subtle in their discriminatory purpos... ... middle of paper ... ...ade for Justice, shed light on the hardships experienced by African American men who chose to resist and fight back against inequality and also provided an example of the aforementioned effect suggested by Harlan’s dissent in the Plessy v. Ferguson decision. Lastly, Booker T. Washington’s Advocates Compromise offered one solution to the issue of segregation and the general prevalence of racial discrimination. All three primary sources were related in its ties to the issue of segregation between the late 1800s and early 1900s. In conclusion, John Marshall Harlan’s dissent was definitely an accurate prediction of the various obstacles that were thrown at the African American people. Harlan was correct in all of his claims; it is only unfortunate that it took the majority over five decades to finally realize that separate and equal facilities do not and cannot exist.

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