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Steve Luxenberg has created an unusual history of the famous Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson and the 19th century\u2019s segregationist practices in his book Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America\u2019s Journey from Slavery to Segregation (Norton, 2019)\xa0 It is unusual because it is chiefly an ensemble biography of Henry Brown, John Marshall Harlan, and Albion Tourgee, three men intimately connected with the Plessy case.\xa0 The book covers the Antebellum period youth of the three men, each from a different part of the young nation and each encountering freedmen, slaves, and the institution of slavery in different social and political contexts.\xa0 We follow these men through the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the post-Reconstruction period leading up to the Plessy decision.\xa0 The Plessy case helped solidify official, state-enforced segregationist practices throughout the United States.\xa0 It made the now-infamous phrase \u201cseparate but equal\u201d a constitutional doctrine that was the law of the land until the 1950s and 1960s.\nIan J. Drake is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Law at Montclair State University. His scholarly interests include American legal and constitutional history and political theory.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices\nSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law