"In 1896, the Supreme Court fixed the grim pattern of race relations in the United States by upholding a Louisiana law requiring all railroads to provide 'equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races.' The long dissent of Associate Justice John Marshall Harlan proved to be a chilling and accurate prediction of things to come: 'The destinies of the two races in this country are indissolubly linked together and the interests of both require that they common government of all not permit the seeds of race hate to be planted under the sanction of law."--Book Jacket.