Emerging from Plessy's shadow / Mark H. Morial -- Chronology of major events in the history of civil rights in America -- Preface -- Interrupted journey -- Reconstruction promises never kept -- Carpetbaggers, scalawags, and redeemers -- Free people of color in New Orleans -- Plessy v. Louisiana: Searching for precedents -- Fourteenth Amendment conspiracy -- En route to the Supreme Court -- Decision comes down -- Segregation without judicial restraints -- Walls begin to crumble -- Plessy finally meets its match -- Fifty years of integration: Half measures and halting progress -- Appendix A: Plessy v. Ferguson, Decision by Justice H. B. Brown -- Appendix B: Plessy v. Ferguson, dissent by Justice J. M. Harlan.