John Marshall Harlan was an associate justice on the Supreme Court. He wrote many dissents that supported equal rights for blacks. He is known for being the only dissenting voice in the Civil Rights Cases(1883) and Plessy v. Ferguson(1896). The Civil Rights Cases(1883) said that it was unconstitutional for the federal government to make anti-discrimination laws. In the Plessy v. Ferguson(1896) case the Supreme Court decided that it was constitutional for Southern state governments to have laws requiring racial segregation. The Court believed that as long as facilities were equal in quality that segregation was legal. His dissent was a powerful defense of equal rights that the court would later imitate in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka(1954).
John Marshall Harlan did what he did because he believe that everyone should have equal opportunities. He knew that the result of the Civil Rights Cases(1883) would lead to widespread segregation of blacks in public life making them second-class citizens. In the Plessy v. Ferguson case he knew that state governments wouldn’t give equal facilities and resources to blacks, which is why he was the dissenting opinion. Harlan didn’t do it because he believed in racial equality but because he believed whites didn’t need assistance from segregation laws.
1.) How did it feel to have the only dissenting opinion on the court?
2.)Would you have ever thought that blacks would be as equal as they are today?
John Marshall Harlan symbolized the only dissenting opinion agaisnt segregation in Civil Rights cases and Plessy v. Ferguson. Harlan took the rights of blacks very seriously and defended their rights even with no support. Harlan strived for the equality of man for the benefit of blacks and had no motivation but to see racial equality throught out the United States.
John Marshall Harlan’s family was a slaveholding family. As a young man, Harlan himself briefly owned slaves. However, he later turned against the institution of slavery. He established the longstanding “separate but equal” doctrine. Depending on the fact that he was raised in a slaveholding family, I simply think that one of the reasons he against slavery is because he grew up with the slaves and know too much suffering upon the slaves. Other reason is the Civil Rights. Since he was growing up in a law family, he knew the law and he thought that “In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law.”
As an associate in the Supreme Court, John Marshall worked in several cases that fought for blacks civil rights. He was motivated to argue his point against southern government officials because he believed in equality for everyone, that all laws and freedoms given to whites should be applied to black people as well. His argument was also based around the unfair aspects of the many laws that continued to spread segregation in various areas of daily life in the southern states.
John Marshall fought for racial equality against the whole supreme court. He was the only one to fight to end racial segregation. Even though the court allowed racial segregation so long as the facilities were equal. But John Marshall knew this would not be the case. He believe every citizen is equal no matter the race.