Plessy v. Ferguson and the Literary Imagination

Abstract

In this essay I explore the relationship of the literary imagination to a specific Supreme Court case: Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). I make no effort to draw conclusions about the general relation between law and literature from this specific example. I do hope that readers agree with me that the interconnections the example reveals are interesting in and of themselves. However, before going to literary connections we have to review the case itself.