Supreme Court Classics

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Separate but Equal Case

Listen to the opinion:

• Part 1 (Opinion of the Court) (28:40 m)
• Part 2 (Justice Harlan's dissent) (29:39 m)

Read the opinion.

Links to other resources:

• Color-Blind Justice: Albion Tourgee and the Quest for Racial Equality from the Civil War to Plessy v. Ferguson by Mark Elliot
• Controlling Identity: Plessy, Privacy, and Racial Defamation by Jonathan D. Kahn
• Judgment of the Supreme Court (document)
• PBS Jim Crow Stories
• The Plessy Case: A Legal-Historical Interpretation by Charles A. Lofgren
• Plessy v. Ferguson - 100 Years Later
• Plessy v. Ferguson: A Brief History with Documents by Brook Thomas
• Separate and Unequal: Homer Plessy and the Supreme Court Decision that Legalized Racism by Harvey Fireside
• Street Law and the Supreme Court Historical Society
• We as Freeman: Plessy v. Ferguson by Keith Weldon Medley

Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886)

Chinese Laundry Case

Listen to the opinion of the Court (41:28 m).

Read the opinion.

Links to other resources:

• Cartoon
• Lesson Plan
• "Unexplainable on Grounds of Race: Doubts About Yick Wo" by Gabriel J. Chin

Strauder v. West Virginia (1879)

Jury Selection Discrimination Case

Listen to the opinion of the Court (23:04 m).

Read the opinion.

Links to other resources:

• Lesson Plan with questions and answers
• New York Times article from March 1880
• Tolerating Racism in the Selection of Jurors by William E. Martin and Peter N. Thompson