Audience: Alumni

Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan, Centre 1850 is one of the most admired figures in American history. But when students at Centre College started Beta Theta Pi’s Epsilon chapter in 1848, Harlan was known as Beta #10 — part of the first group of brothers who gave the Epsilon chapter its values and mission. The fraternity was central to Harlan’s identity at Centre, where he developed his speaking and debating skills. The Epsilon chapter provided a foundation of faith, patriotism, and brotherhood that helped to guide him in the perilous years to come.Harlan’s story is not a dry courtroom tale. He barnstormed his state of Kentucky before the Civil War to try to stave off the conflict. He played a central role in keeping Kentucky faithful to the Union. He used his personal prestige to recruit 800 men to his Civil War regiment, and led it through years of combat. On the court, he was the “great dissenter” in a string of cases that took away the rights of Black people, and he fought against the excesses of the Gilded Age to give the government the power to push back against income inequality. His dissent in the landmark case of Plessy v. Ferguson, in which he declared “the Constitution is colorblind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens,” paved the way for the 20th Century Civil Rights movement.

Today, the Epsilon chapter at Centre continues to draw inspiration from Brother Harlan, with oil paintings of him in his Civil War uniform and judicial robes.

Peter Canellosis the author of the acclaimed biography, “The Great Dissenter: The Story of John Marshall Harlan, America’s Judicial Hero.” Please join us on Wednesday, January 21, at 8 p.m. EST to learn more about the amazing life of America’s “father of equal protection,” and one of the greatest of all Betas.