This text offers a concise analysis of the Plessy case, allowing readers to understand the Court's reasoning, the social and political realities that made such a decision possible, and the immediate effects on public life. Thomas's comprehensive introduction explains the complicated legal issues involved in both the majority decision and the lone dissent by Justice John Marshall Harlan. a rich collection of primary documents-including court decisions, Booker T. Washington's 1895 'Atlanta Exposition Address, ' an essay by W.E.B. Du Bois, and a previously unpublished speech by Charles W. Chesnutt-enables readers to recreate for themselves the context of the debates and to conditions in which the decision was made.