Delano Squires and Chad Jackson DEBATE the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. | EXCLUSIVE

Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark 1896 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the doctrine of "separate but equal. " The case stemmed from an incident in 1892 when Homer Plessy, who was of mixed race, refused to sit in a "whites only" car on a train. The Court ruled that segregation was permissible as long as the separate facilities provided to different races were equal in quality. This decision provided legal justification for segregation laws across the United States, particularly in the South. It wasn't explicitly overturned until Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which addressed segregation in schools. Plessy v. Ferguson remains a significant case in American legal history, symbolizing the era of Jim Crow laws and institutionalized racism.

In 'Public Opinion', Walter Lippmann explores the nature of public opinion, how it is formed, and its influence on democratic processes. Published in 1922, the book critiques the ideal of direct democracy and argues that the public's perceptions are often shaped by incomplete and inaccurate information. Lippmann discusses the role of media, stereotypes, and other factors in shaping public opinion, highlighting the challenges in achieving informed and rational public discourse.