Separate But Equal: The Plessy Case (Part 1)
This Day (An America 250 History Show)
Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia
4.5 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 5 May 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to This Day, a history show from Radiotopia. My name is Jody Avergan. |
| 0:13.0 | It's 50 Weeks that shaped America, our semi-Quincentennial series, looking at some of the biggest moments in U.S. history, and this is week 18, and this week we go to |
| 0:22.1 | 1896, and a Supreme Court ruling that shut the door on reconstruction and opened the door |
| 0:28.7 | to the Jim Crow era of racial segregation. After the Civil War and emancipation in the 1870s and |
| 0:35.6 | 80s, there was genuine progress for black rights and some political |
| 0:39.3 | power, but very quickly that Reconstruction era saw a backlash, both on the ground and in new |
| 0:45.6 | laws throughout the South that tried to roll back the rights of black Americans. |
| 0:50.8 | Plessy v. Ferguson is the case that we are discussing today, and that was a case about |
| 0:55.2 | segregated rail cars in Louisiana. But in the end, the ruling upheld the segregated cars, |
| 1:01.5 | and it was about much more. It really codified this idea of separate but equal. So in this |
| 1:07.3 | episode, we will get into it all. Who was Plessy? Who was Ferguson? What was up with the |
| 1:11.4 | Supreme Court in that era? And what was the world that this ruling ushered in? Separate bathrooms, |
| 1:16.9 | separate water fountains, literacy tests and poll taxes, the rise of the KKK, lots more here to |
| 1:23.0 | discuss, as always, Nicole Hammer of Vanderbilt and Kelly Carter Jackson of Walsley. |
| 1:28.0 | Hello there. |
| 1:28.7 | Hello, Jody. |
| 1:29.5 | Hi there. |
| 1:30.0 | So this is our first Supreme Court case episode, landmark Supreme Court case episode. |
| 1:35.3 | We might have a few more coming down the line, but it's a little hard to make them super riveting when it's really focused on Supreme Court cases. |
| 1:42.5 | But I didn't tell you I was going to do this. |
| 1:44.3 | But I made my attempt at a list at the five most impactful landmark Supreme Court cases in 250 years. |
| 1:53.0 | I'm sure plenty of people will quibble with me. |
... |
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