The Plessy Court ruled social equality must come from voluntary affinity, not law

Evidence

The Court went on to provide its view on how racial equality would be won for black Americans: “If the two races are to meet upon terms of social equality, it must be the result of natural affinities, a mutual appreciation of each other’s merits, and a voluntary consent of individuals.” The decision concludes with a final observation: “If one race be inferior to the other socially, the constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane.” — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 386

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Plessy held that law cannot legislate social equality, validating separate but equal — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations: How Building a…, 386; Laws are symptoms of social morality, not its cause — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 823; The Plessy Court blamed blacks’ own perception for any sense of inferiority from segregation
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Plessy held that law cannot legislate social equality, validating separate but equal — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations: How Building a…, 386; Laws are symptoms of social morality, not its cause — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 823; The Plessy Court blamed blacks’ own perception for any sense of inferiority from segregation

Broader Connections

• Plessy held that law cannot legislate social equality, validating separate but equal #corroborates (0.98) — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 386