Antiracism, Cultural Competency & Civil Rights

""Sensing Injustice: A Lawyer's Life in the Battle for Change" combines Michael Tigar's wry legal and societal observations with his analysis of landmark civil rights and international justice cases on which he, as an attorney, worked . The result is a narrative that blends law, history, and progressive politics"--

"The landmark Brown v. Board of Education case was the start of a long period of desegregation, but Brown did not give a road map for how to achieve this lofty goal; it only provided the destination. In the years that followed, the path towards the fulfillment of this vision for school integration was worked out in the courts through the efforts of the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice. One of the major cases on this path was Lee v. Macon County Board of Education (1967). Revolution by Law traces the growth of Lee v. Macon County from a simple school desegregation case in rural Alabama to a decision that paved the way for ending state imposed racial segregation of the schools in the Deep South. Author Brian Landsberg began his career as a young attorney working for the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ in 1964, the year after the lawsuit was filed that would lead to the Lee decision. As someone personally involved in the legal struggle for civil rights, Landsberg writes with first-hand knowledge of the case. His carefully researched study of this important case argues that private plaintiffs, the United States executive branch, the federal courts, and eventually Congress each played important roles in transforming the South from the most segregated to the least segregated region of the United States. The Lee case played a central role in dismantling Alabama's official racial caste system, and the decision became the model both for other statewide school desegregation cases and for cases challenging conditions in prisons and institutions for mentally ill people. Revolution by Law gives readers a deep understanding of the methods used by the federal government to desegregate the schools of the Deep South"--

"This blisteringly candid discussion of the American dilemma in the age of Trump brings together the head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the former attorney general of the United States, a bestselling author and death penalty lawyer, and a star professor for an honest conversation the country desperately needs to hear. Drawing on their collective decades of work on civil rights issues as well as personal histories of rising from poverty and oppression, these leading lights of the legal profession and the fight for racial justice talk about the importance of reclaiming the racial narrative and keeping our eyes on the horizon as we work for justice in an unjust time. Covering topics as varied as "the commonality of pain," "when lawyers are heroes," and the concept of an "equality dividend" that is due to people of color for helping America brand itself internationally as a country of diversity and acceptance, Ifill, Lynch, Stevenson, and Thompson also explore topics such as "when did 'public' become a dirty word" (hint, it has something to do with serving people of color), "you know what Jeff Sessions is going to say," and "what it means to be a civil rights lawyer in the age of Trump." Building on Stevenson's hugely successful Just Mercy, Lynch's national platform at the Justice Department, Ifill's role as one of the leading defenders of civil rights in the country, and the occasion of Thompson's launch of a new center on race, inequality, and the law at the NYU School of Law, A Perilous Path will speak loudly and clearly to everyone concerned about America's perpetual fault line."--Amazon.com.

"The untold story of the Harvard class of '63, whose Black students fought to create their own identities on the cusp between integration and affirmative action"--;"The untold story of the Harvard class of '63, whose Black students fought to create their own identities on the cusp between integration and affirmative action. In the fall of 1959, Harvard recruited eighteen "Negro" boys as an experiment, an early form of affirmative action. Four years later they would graduate as African Americans. Some fifty years later, one of these trailblazing Harvard grads, Kent Garrett, began to reconnect with his classmates and explore their vastly different backgrounds, lives, and what their time at Harvard meant. Garrett and his partner Jeanne Ellsworth recount how these young men broke new ground. By the time they were seniors, they would have demonstrated against injustice, had lunch with Malcolm X, experienced heartbreak and the racism of academia, and joined with their African national classmates to fight for the right to form an exclusive Black students' group. Part journey into personal history, part group portrait, and part narrative history of the civil rights movement, this is the remarkable story of brilliant, singular boys whose identities were changed at and by Harvard, and who, in turn, changed Harvard"--

"More than just a legal doctrine, color-blind constitutionalism has emerged as the defining metaphor of the post-Civil Rights era. Even for those challenging its constitutional authority, the language of color-blindness sets the terms of debate. Critics of color-blind constitutionalism are in this sense captured by the object of their critique. And yet, paradoxically, to enact a color-blind rule actually requires a heightened awareness of race. As such, color-blind constitutionalism represents a particular form of racial consciousness rather than an alternative to it. Challenging familiar understandings of race, rights, and American law, [this book] explores how current equal protection law renders the pursuit of racial equality constitutionally suspect. Identifying hierarchy rather than equality as an enduring constitutional norm, the book demonstrates how the pursuit of racial equality, historically, has been viewed as a violation of white rights. Arguing against conservative and liberal redemption narratives, both of which imagine racial equality as the perfection of American democracy, Is Racial Equality Unconstitutional? calls instead for a break from the current constitutional order, that it may be re-founded upon principles of racial democracy." -- Publisher's website.

"Arizona recdisently expanded provisions of the Arizona Civil Rights Act (ACRA) to cover pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions. Additionally following a national trend in response to perceived state and federal inaction cities in Arizona on their own passed new ordinances that expands protected categories and coverage."

"Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. It is also known as Emancipation Day Juneteenth Independence Day and Black Independence Day. On June 19 1865 Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston TX and announced the end of the Civil War and the end of slavery. Although the Emancipation Proclamation came 2 years earlier on January 1, 1863 many slave owners continued to hold their slaves captive after the announcement so Juneteenth became a symbolic date representing African American freedom. This fact sheet assists congressional offices with work related to Juneteenth. It contains sample speeches and remarks from the Congressional Record presidential proclamations and remarks and selected historical and cultural resources."

"Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez D-N.Y. took to the House floor Thursday morning to admonish the insults hurled at her by Rep. Ted Yoho R-Fla. earlier this week."

"Readers are moved by an Op-Ed piece he wrote days before his death urging people to 'tand up for what you truly believe.'''

"The House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to remove all Confederate statues from public display in the U.S. Capitol along with replacing the bust of former Chief Justice of the United States Roger Taney author of the 1857 Dred Scott decision that declared that people of African descent were not U.S. citizens."

"This bill makes lynching a federal hate crime offense."

"Survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre described on Wednesday how the violence tore their lives and community apart 100 years ago and they urged a U.S. House subcommittee to help secure justice and financial compensation."

"The House fell short of passing legislation on Monday that would prohibit discrimination against people with hair styles associated with a particular race or national origin."

"This bill establishes the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans. The commission shall examine slavery and discrimination in the colonies and the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies. Among other requirements the commission shall identify (1) the role of federal and state governments in supporting the institution of slavery (2) forms of discrimination in the public and private sectors against freed slaves and their descendants and (3) lingering negative effects of slavery on living African-Americans and society."

"This is the second of four special Black History Month issues of De Novo the newsletter of the Law Library of Louisiana that will be distributed statewide by the Louisiana Supreme Court. Each issue will feature an Unsung Hero whose work though less well-known than others nonetheless contributed to the progress of civil rights in Louisiana"

"In several cases addressing the constitutionality of affirmative action admissions policies the Supreme Court has recognized a compelling state interest in schools with diverse student populations. According to the Court and affirmative action proponents the pursuit of diversity does not only benefit minority students who gain expanded access to elite institutions through affirmative action. Rather diversity also benefits white students who grow through encounters with minority students it contributes to social and intellectual life on campus and it serves society at large by aiding the development of citizens equipped for employment and citizen-ship in an increasingly diverse country."

"Justices of the United States Supreme Court have heard and ruled on many cases that have dealt with race”questions such as who has the right to use the courts where can black and white people live what public schools can a person attend and how can education be equal for everyone? For the courts rulings from earlier cases set a precedent for current and future rulings. Sometimes the Court even states when an earlier Court's ruling was just flat out wrong or misguided. The five cases below were decided by the U.S. Supreme Court and dealt with how the Court interpreted race and who has rights under the law."

"The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear the FBI's bid to block a civil rights lawsuit by three Muslim men from California who accused the agency of illegally conducting surveillance on them following the Sept. 11 2001 attacks on the United States."

"This page outlines various key court cases that deal with racial issues from a legal standpoint. These sites offer an introduction and information about historic precedents and other data that also impact on viewpoints found in relation to decisions made within wider society."

"On January 5 2022 the governor of Louisiana posthumously pardoned Homer Plessy the defendant in the famous 1896 U.S. Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson. Plessy is known for affirming the legal theory of 'separate but equal' that was used to justify Jim Crow laws in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was later overturned in part by Brown v. Board of Education."

"President Joe Biden signed a bill establishing Juneteenth the date marking the end of slavery in the United States as a federal holiday."

"Current attempts to correct historical discrimination by local and regional offices of the USDA have been met with charges of 'reverse discrimination'"

"In her evocative masterpiece The Alchemy of Race and Rights published in 1991 Patricia Williams captured a moment in American legal thought that marked a turning point in expressions about race and power and the implications for social equality. It contained lessons extending beyond America's unique race history to the general social and political dynamics in liberal democracy that create conditions of privilege and exclusion. She invited us to think about the place of law in the social and institutional practices that sustain status quo hierarchies despite proclaimed civil rights commitments to justice. She also inspired hope that the role of the lawyer could be one of mutinous agitator—struggling from the inside using the tools and skills of practice to support the causes of identifiable communities and social movements."

"The family of the late Henrietta Lacks who unwittingly spurred a research bonanza when her cancer cells were taken without her knowledge in 1951 has hired a prominent civil rights lawyer to seek compensation from pharmaceutical companies."

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Civil rights group Muslim Advocates sued Facebook Inc and its top executives on Thursday alleging they misled the U.S. Congress and others by falsely claiming the company removes content that violates its policies."

"An unusual coalition is banding together in a petition to release an 84-year-old former Black Panther convicted for his role in the killing of a police officer."

"Law Schools and Bar associations are sharing some excellent stories as part of black history month."

"The legal profession which was almost entirely white slowly began to crack open its doors to lawyers of color in the 1970s. The 1972-73 Prelaw Handbook (p. 9) noted that "the number of lawyers from minority groups is still disproportionately small" but there were "signs of change." "