Steve Luxenberg: John Jay Lectures, Dissent in our Democracy: Steve Luxenberg, an Associate Editor at The Washington Post discussed his book Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America’s Journey from Slavery to Segregation. Separate traces the careful building in 1896 of a test case to establish freedom from race-based segregation in public accommodations. The strategy backfired badly in Plessy v. Ferguson, when the Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” did not violate the Constitution. Justice John Marshall Harlan was the sole dissenter, declaring that “the Constitution is color-blind” and it would take 60 years to reverse the precedent, in Brown v. Board of Education. Luxenberg, at The Washington Post, oversaw reporting that won two Pulitzers. Purchase tickets now.