The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson is one of Mark Twain's most thorough examinations of the institution of slavery and the superficiality of racial prejudice. It was written during an era when Jim Crow segregation was spreading throughout the South and was published two years before the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson on May 18, 1896. In June of 1892, Homer Plessy violated the Louisiana law mandating segregation in railroad cars as part …showed first 75 words of 276 total…

…showed last 75 words of 276 total…white child, is accepted as white while the other is treated as a slave. As the children grow, it is not their races but their "circumstances," "conditioning," and "training" that "determine" their behaviors and positions in society -- an argument Twain developed more broadly in What Is Man? The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson grew out of and was published together with Those Extraordinary Twins, and this guide includes links to resources related to both novels.