Together: An Inspiring Response to the "Separate-But-Equal" Supreme Court Decision That Divided America by Amy Nathan (review)

Nathan, Amy Together: An Inspiring Response to the "Separate-But-Equal" Supreme Court Decision That Divided America. Paul Dry, 2021 [209p] illus. with photographs Paper ed. ISBN 9781589881488 $14.95 Reviewed from digital galleys Ad Gr. 6-9

When Keith Plessy and Phoebe Ferguson, both born in 1957, were growing up in New Orleans, they knew nothing about the family lineage that connected them to a troubling chapter in civil rights history, but each had questions about the unwritten segregation rules that governed their childhood activities. As adults, Phoebe and Keith discovered that they are, respectively, the great-great-granddaughter of Judge John H. Ferguson and great-grandson of the cousin of defendant Homer Plessy, whose courtroom encounter led to the 1896 Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson and created the specious concept of separate but equal racial accommodation. The first half of Nathan's work dives into New Orleans history and Homer Plessy's carefully orchestrated test case that challenged segregation on public transit, and lost in the Supreme Court. The second half switches to Keith and Phoebe and how they organized the Plessy and Ferguson Foundation, which promotes activities to educate the public about civil rights history. It's an interesting development, but the contemporary story never quite gains traction, skimming quickly over Keith and Phoebe's personal responses and dedicating an overabundance of attention to installation of markers, tributes to the foundation, and lists of activities. More than sixty pages of back matter, from customary source notes, bibliography, timeline, and index to signage text and how-to notes on putting up historical markers, suggest that this will serve more as a starting point for further research on restorative justice activism than a thorough look at people who confront a fraught past and find a path forward.