RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Harlan’s Dissent: Citizenship, Education, and the Color-Conscious Constitution
JF RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
FD Russell Sage Foundation
SP 148
OP 165
DO 10.7758/RSF.2021.7.1.09
VO 7
IS 1
A1 Douglas S. Reed
YR 2021
UL http://www.rsfjournal.org/content/7/1/148.abstract
AB In his dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson, Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote, “Our constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.” Racial conservatives have argued that Harlan’s dissent should invalidate policies that partially redress the historical injuries inflicted on African Americans. This article contends that the concept of colorblindness misstates Harlan’s central claim. His dissent insisted black Americans are entitled to the full fruits of citizenship. This rearticulation reveals that race-conscious policies, particularly within public education, fulfill, rather than undermine, Harlan’s primary objective of defending black citizenship. The article shows that racial conservatives’ colorblind ideology emerged as a strategic response to their legal defeats over segregated schools and to attack affirmative action. The Supreme Court’s later use of colorblind principles is contrasted with empirical evidence of the efficacy of color-conscious pedagogies within schools. The recent Gary B. v. Whitmer case highlights the linkages between full citizenship and race-conscious pedagogies.