The Journey to Separate but Equal

Madame Decuir’s Quest for Racial Justice in the Reconstruction Era

Monday, November 15, 2021
12:45 – 2:00 p.m.

Please RSVP here.

Please join us via zoom here.

A symposium to celebrate the publication of “The Journey to Separate but Equal: Madame Decuir’s Quest for Racial Justice in the Reconstruction Era” by Professor of Law, Jack Beermann. This symposium will be presented virtually and in person for members of the BU Community.

Commentators:
Paul Finkelman, Chancellor and Distinguished Professor of History
David Lyons, Boston University School of Law
Nina Silber, Jon Westling Professor of History, History Department Chair.

About the Book

In The Journey to Separate but Equal: Madame Decuir’s Quest for Racial Justice in the Reconstruction Era, Jack Beermann tells the story of how, in Hall v. Decuir, the post–Civil War US Supreme Court took its first step toward perpetuating the subjugation of the non-White population of the United States by actively preventing a Southern state from prohibiting segregation on a riverboat in the coasting trade on the Mississippi River. The Journey to Separate but Equal offers the first complete exploration of Hall v. Decuir, with an in-depth look at the case’s record; the lives of the parties, lawyers, and judges; and the case’s social context in 1870s Louisiana. The book centers around the remarkable story of Madame Josephine Decuir and the lawsuit she pursued because she had been illegally barred from the cabin reserved for White women on the Governor Allen riverboat.

The drama of Madame Decuir’s fight against segregation’s denial of her dignity as a human and particularly as a woman enriches our understanding of the Reconstruction era, especially in Louisiana, including political and legal changes that occurred during that time and the plight of people of color who were freed from slavery but denied their dignity and rights as American citizens. Hall v. Decuir spanned the pivotal period of 1872–1878, during which White segregationist Democrats “redeemed” the South from Republican control. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Hall overturned the application of an 1869 Louisiana statute prohibiting racial segregation in Madame Decuirs case because of the status of the Mississippi River as a mode of interstate commerce. The decision represents a crucial precedent that established the legal groundwork for the entrenchment of Jim Crow in the law of the United States, leading directly to the Courts adoption of separate but equal in Plessy v. Ferguson.

About the Author

Jack Beermann’s scholarship focuses on two areas: civil rights litigation and administrative law. He is an authority on the circumstances under which state and local officials, and local governments, should be held liable for their constitutional violations. “What particularly fascinates me is studying the values underlying our public law system and how social movements and history have affected those values,” he says.

Professor Beermann has authored or co-authored four books on administrative law, including a widely-used casebook and the Emanuel Law Outline on the subject. He has also written extensively on the degree to which federal courts should defer to the legal determinations of federal agencies, on the problem of midnight rulemaking, in which outgoing administrations promulgate dozens of regulations at the end of their administrations and on the legal aspects of the funding crisis facing public employee pension funds in the United States.

Please note that the panel discussion will be held in person for members of the Boston University community. Attendees will be required to present their green badge at the door to Barristers Hall. At this time, we cannot welcome other guests due to the University’s public health protocols.