Introduction: A Radical Notion of Democracy: Law, Race, and Albion Tourgee, 1865-1905

22 Pages Posted: 12 Jun 2013

Date Written: April 16, 2013

Abstract

Introduction to special issue of the Elon Law Review stemming from symposium on Albion Tourgée held in Raleigh, N.C., on Nov. 4, 2011. A former Union soldier, Tourgée settled in Greensboro in 1865 in hopes of helping to shape the new post-slavery South. A lawyer, judge, novelist, and activist, Tourgée worked for racial equality in the state for thirteen years. His North Carolina legacy lives on in the provisions of the state Constitution guaranteeing free public education, as well as other reforms. He later achieved national fame for representing Homer Plessy in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the U.S. Supreme Court case that established separate-but-equal facilities as the foundation of de jure segregation.

Special attention is devoted to Tourgée’s contributions to the North Carolina Constitution of 1868, including his commitment to the guarantee of equality in public education. The symposium also considered Tourgée’s lasting contribution to the discourse of civil rights, as it has come down to us through Justice John Harlan’s dissent in Plessy: the concept of a “color-blind” Constitution. The introduction concludes with a discussion of the ways in which the concept of "color-blindness" in civil rights discourse has become problematic.

Keywords: Civil Rights, Reconstruction, North Carolina Constitution, Plessy v. Ferguson

Suggested Citation

Greene, Sally, Introduction: A Radical Notion of Democracy: Law, Race, and Albion Tourgee, 1865-1905 (April 16, 2013). Elon University Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 11, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2276922

Sally Greene (Contact Author)

Independent Scholar ( email )

Chapel Hill, NC 27517
United States

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