Jack M. Beermann is professor of law and Harry Elwood Warren Scholar, Boston University School of Law, and the author of numerous articles on the legal history of the civil rights era.

• Preface and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Louisiana’s and the Decuir and Dubuclet Families2. Madame Decuir Returns from France and Hires New Lawyers3. Madame Decuir’s Journey and Reconstruction4. Madame Decuir’s Suit against Captain Benson5. Judge Collum Decides6. The Louisiana Supreme Court Affirms7. Captain Benson Takes His Case to the US Supreme Court8. Louisiana (and the Entire South) Redeemed9. The Supreme Court Decides10. The Completion of the Law’s Journey to “Equal, but Separate”EpilogueAppendix: The Commerce ClauseNotesIndex

"Beermann puts his expertise to good use while also enriching the story with historical sources and context. He draws on historians’ work to discuss Reconstruction and the place of free people of color in Louisiana."—Journal of Southern History"Beermann’s skillful discussion of the DeCuir litigation provides important insights into the lawyers and jurists who played critical roles in the case."—Journal of Interdisciplinary History"This extensively researched volume should appeal not only to those interested in the judiciary and civil rights but also to anyone curious about life and culture in south Louisiana during the immediate post-Civil War Era."—Journal of Supreme Court History"Racism in the United States dismantled the Civil War’s legal achievements and built the world of continuing and expanding racialized segregation, deprivations, and indignities—but how did this come to pass? It took the particularly effective combination of White resentment, judicial activism, legal abstractions, and political backlash to strip free people of color of rights, wealth, and status as shown in this detailed yet vivid and accessible account by Jack Beermann. Thanks to this book, the little-remembered Supreme Court rejection of state antidiscrimination laws and the valiant but unsuccessful efforts of Josephine Decuir and her lawyers take their rightful place in the crucial reckoning with vigorous federal destruction of equal treatment in the United States. Read this book to understand how ‘technicalities’ of inheritance law practice, the ‘dormant Commerce Clause,’ and Southern transportation policies mixed with White status desires to block equal treatment laws and create the ‘separate but equal’ regime."—Martha Minow, 300th Anniversary University Professor and former dean of Harvard Law School, and author of In Brown’s Wake: Legacies of America’s Educational Landmark"It’s about time the much-neglected US Supreme Court ruling Hall v. Decuir (1878) received serious book-length attention, for this ‘long-forgotten’ decision is more than an ironic milestone on the road to Plessy. In Jack Beermann’s telling, it is no less a poignant turning point in the decisive marginalization of nineteenth-century Louisiana’s mixed-race community. We owe him a huge debt for wresting this maddeningly tragic story from history’s hidden shadows."—Lawrence N. Powell, professor emeritus of history, Tulane University, and author of The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans

Jack M. Beermann is professor of law and Harry Elwood Warren Scholar, Boston University School of Law, and the author of numerous articles on the legal history of the civil rights era.

• Preface and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Louisiana’s and the Decuir and Dubuclet Families2. Madame Decuir Returns from France and Hires New Lawyers3. Madame Decuir’s Journey and Reconstruction4. Madame Decuir’s Suit against Captain Benson5. Judge Collum Decides6. The Louisiana Supreme Court Affirms7. Captain Benson Takes His Case to the US Supreme Court8. Louisiana (and the Entire South) Redeemed9. The Supreme Court Decides10. The Completion of the Law’s Journey to “Equal, but Separate”EpilogueAppendix: The Commerce ClauseNotesIndex

"Beermann puts his expertise to good use while also enriching the story with historical sources and context. He draws on historians’ work to discuss Reconstruction and the place of free people of color in Louisiana."—Journal of Southern History"Beermann’s skillful discussion of the DeCuir litigation provides important insights into the lawyers and jurists who played critical roles in the case."—Journal of Interdisciplinary History"This extensively researched volume should appeal not only to those interested in the judiciary and civil rights but also to anyone curious about life and culture in south Louisiana during the immediate post-Civil War Era."—Journal of Supreme Court History"Racism in the United States dismantled the Civil War’s legal achievements and built the world of continuing and expanding racialized segregation, deprivations, and indignities—but how did this come to pass? It took the particularly effective combination of White resentment, judicial activism, legal abstractions, and political backlash to strip free people of color of rights, wealth, and status as shown in this detailed yet vivid and accessible account by Jack Beermann. Thanks to this book, the little-remembered Supreme Court rejection of state antidiscrimination laws and the valiant but unsuccessful efforts of Josephine Decuir and her lawyers take their rightful place in the crucial reckoning with vigorous federal destruction of equal treatment in the United States. Read this book to understand how ‘technicalities’ of inheritance law practice, the ‘dormant Commerce Clause,’ and Southern transportation policies mixed with White status desires to block equal treatment laws and create the ‘separate but equal’ regime."—Martha Minow, 300th Anniversary University Professor and former dean of Harvard Law School, and author of In Brown’s Wake: Legacies of America’s Educational Landmark"It’s about time the much-neglected US Supreme Court ruling Hall v. Decuir (1878) received serious book-length attention, for this ‘long-forgotten’ decision is more than an ironic milestone on the road to Plessy. In Jack Beermann’s telling, it is no less a poignant turning point in the decisive marginalization of nineteenth-century Louisiana’s mixed-race community. We owe him a huge debt for wresting this maddeningly tragic story from history’s hidden shadows."—Lawrence N. Powell, professor emeritus of history, Tulane University, and author of The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans

Jack M. Beermann is professor of law and Harry Elwood Warren Scholar, Boston University School of Law, and the author of numerous articles on the legal history of the civil rights era.

• Preface and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Louisiana’s and the Decuir and Dubuclet Families2. Madame Decuir Returns from France and Hires New Lawyers3. Madame Decuir’s Journey and Reconstruction4. Madame Decuir’s Suit against Captain Benson5. Judge Collum Decides6. The Louisiana Supreme Court Affirms7. Captain Benson Takes His Case to the US Supreme Court8. Louisiana (and the Entire South) Redeemed9. The Supreme Court Decides10. The Completion of the Law’s Journey to “Equal, but Separate”EpilogueAppendix: The Commerce ClauseNotesIndex

"Beermann puts his expertise to good use while also enriching the story with historical sources and context. He draws on historians’ work to discuss Reconstruction and the place of free people of color in Louisiana."—Journal of Southern History"Beermann’s skillful discussion of the DeCuir litigation provides important insights into the lawyers and jurists who played critical roles in the case."—Journal of Interdisciplinary History"This extensively researched volume should appeal not only to those interested in the judiciary and civil rights but also to anyone curious about life and culture in south Louisiana during the immediate post-Civil War Era."—Journal of Supreme Court History"Racism in the United States dismantled the Civil War’s legal achievements and built the world of continuing and expanding racialized segregation, deprivations, and indignities—but how did this come to pass? It took the particularly effective combination of White resentment, judicial activism, legal abstractions, and political backlash to strip free people of color of rights, wealth, and status as shown in this detailed yet vivid and accessible account by Jack Beermann. Thanks to this book, the little-remembered Supreme Court rejection of state antidiscrimination laws and the valiant but unsuccessful efforts of Josephine Decuir and her lawyers take their rightful place in the crucial reckoning with vigorous federal destruction of equal treatment in the United States. Read this book to understand how ‘technicalities’ of inheritance law practice, the ‘dormant Commerce Clause,’ and Southern transportation policies mixed with White status desires to block equal treatment laws and create the ‘separate but equal’ regime."—Martha Minow, 300th Anniversary University Professor and former dean of Harvard Law School, and author of In Brown’s Wake: Legacies of America’s Educational Landmark"It’s about time the much-neglected US Supreme Court ruling Hall v. Decuir (1878) received serious book-length attention, for this ‘long-forgotten’ decision is more than an ironic milestone on the road to Plessy. In Jack Beermann’s telling, it is no less a poignant turning point in the decisive marginalization of nineteenth-century Louisiana’s mixed-race community. We owe him a huge debt for wresting this maddeningly tragic story from history’s hidden shadows."—Lawrence N. Powell, professor emeritus of history, Tulane University, and author of The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans