Examines the significant role played by the U.S. Supreme Court in shaping race relations and affecting civil rights in the period between the end of the Civil War and the 1954 Brown decision.

The Supreme Court played a decisive, and not always positive role in molding the relationship between race and rights during the ninety years between the end of the Civil War and Brown. Brown marked a turning point in the meaning of race in American society. Its contribution to the erosion of the moral legitimacy of segregation helped impel the civil rights movement toward major legislative success, culminating with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.