Separate But Equal: The Plessy Case (Part 1)

For the eighteenth installment of “50 Weeks That Shaped America” we talk about a landmark Supreme Court case, Plessy v Ferguson, which in 1896 codified the idea of “separate but equal” accomodations for Black and White Americans. We trace the brief moment during Reconstruction when Black citizens in the South gained real rights, and how legislatures and White power structures began to push back. Then we discuss the case itself and the impact of the ruling, including the lone dissent. Join our America250 newsletter community !

You can listen to Separate But Equal: The Plessy Case (Part 1) online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Separate But Equal: The Plessy Case (Part 1) is an episode from This Day in Esoteric Political History by Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia.

This episode is 46:09 long.

This episode was published on May 5, 2026.

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