Kentucky’s connection to Plessy v. Ferguson, the 1896 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that justified racial segregation for nearly six decades, will be the focus of an author’s talk on Sept. 7 at the Kentucky Historical Society in Frankfort.
Steven Luxenberg, author of “Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson and America’s Journey from Slavery to Segregation,” is an associate editor at the Washington Post. His talk will explain how Associate Justice John Marshall Harlan, a Kentucky native, became known as “The Great Dissenter” as a result of his rejection of the arguments for legalized desegregation.
“Our constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens,” Harlan wrote in his dissent. “In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law.”
Luxenberg’s book has earned praise for its relevance today and its storytelling.
“A magisterial assessment of a U.S. Supreme Court’s grievous moral collapse … a definitive work on the 1896 legal drama that afflicts us to this day,” David Simon, an author and creator of HBO’s “The Wire,” wrote.
The book won the J. Anthony Lukas Award for excellence in nonfiction writing.
The public is invited to hear Luxenberg at noon Sept. 7 at the Kentucky History Center in downtown Frankfort. The cost for the program, which includes a lunch buffet, is $30 for KHS members and $35 for non-members.
Reservations should be made by calling 502-782-8118 by Aug. 30.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
