Color-blind justice Albion Tourgee and the quest for racial equality from the Civil War to Plessy v. Ferguson

Synopsis

Civil War officer, Reconstruction "carpetbagger," best-selling novelist, and relentless champion of equal rights, Albion Tourgée battled his entire life for racial justice. Now, in this engaging biography, Mark Elliott offers an insightful portrait of a fearless lawyer, jurist, and writer, who fought for equality long after most Americans had abandoned the ideals of Reconstruction.
Elliott provides a fascinating account of Tourgée's life, from his childhood in the Western Reserve region of Ohio (then a hotbed of abolitionism), to his years as a North Carolina judge during Reconstruction, to his memorable role as lead plaintiff's counsel in the landmark Supreme Court casePlessy v. Ferguson. Tourgée's brief coined the phrase that justice should be "color-blind," and his career was one long campaign to made good on that belief. A redoubtable lawyer and an accomplished jurist, Tourgée wrote fifteen political novels, eight books of historical and social criticism, and several hundred newspaper and magazine articles that all told represent a mountain of dissent against the prevailing tide of racial oppression.
Through the lens of Tourgée's life, Elliott illuminates the war of ideas about race that raged through the United States in the nineteenth century, from the heated debate over slavery before the Civil War, through the conflict over aid to freedmen during Reconstruction, to the backlash toward the end of the century, when Tourgée saw his country retreat from the goals of equality and freedom and utterly repudiate the work of Reconstruction.
A poignant and inspiring study in courage and conviction,Color Blind Justiceoffers us an unforgettable portrayal of Albion Tourgée and the principles to which he dedicated his life.

Finalist, 2007 Peter Seaborg Award for Civil War Scholarship