Research & Academic Scholarship

Tracking anti-CRT efforts introduced at the local, state, and federal levels.

By Cara Moore Lebonick | National Archives News ST. LOUIS, November 4, 2024 — On the 100-year anniversary of race riots erupting in the predominantly Black-populated and affluent Greenwood District

Agents of change: Community efforts to overcome racial inequities is an editorial series created in collaboration with Report for America, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, that highlights how local initiatives address racial inequalities through grassroots approaches.

Lloyd Lionel Gaines applied to the University of Missouri School of Law in 1936. Despite an outstanding scholastic record, Gaines was denied admission based solely on the grounds that Missouri’s Constitution called for “separate education of the races.” Because Missouri had no public law school that admitted Black applications, state law required the state to pay Gaines’ tuition at public universities in Iowa, Kansas or Nebraska. Attorneys from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) identified Gaines’ case as a good vehicle to begin the incremental process of challenging the ignominious precedent of “separate but equal” established in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. Together, they sued the University of Missouri seeking an order granting him admission to its Law School.

"In June 1951 five African Americans Harvey E. Beech James L. Lassiter J. Kenneth Lee Floyd B. McKissick and James R. Walker enrolled in classes at the University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill ("Carolina Law")."

Compiled resources from Harvard Law Review.

"Race Racism And The Law considers race racism and racial distinctions in the law. It examines the role of domestic and international law in promoting and/or alleviating racism. This website makes law review scholarship (and related material) more accessible to community activists students and non-legal faculty."

"This article argues that "race" is an unnecessary and potentially pernicious concept. As evidenced by the history of slavery segregation the Holocaust and other human tragedies the idea of "race" can perpetuate prejudices and misconceptions and serve as justification for systematic persecution. "Race" suggests that human beings can be divided into subspecies some of which are morally and intellectually inferior to others. The law has important symbolic and expressive value and is often efficacious as a force that shapes public ideology. Consequently it must undermine the notion that "race" is a legitimate mechanism by which to categorize human beings. Furthermore the focus on rigid "racial" classifications obfuscates political discussion concerning affirmative action scientific research and social inequities. When we speak of "racial" diversity discrimination or inequality it is unclear whether we are referring to color socioeconomic status continent of origin or some other factor. Because the term "race" subsumes so many different ideas in people's minds it is not a useful platform for social discourse."

"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."

"And too many of us have never heard of him. Thanks to a new website now we have."

"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."

"American jurisprudence and law have profoundly shaped defined and constrained the lives of Black people for over 400 years. Racial inequality has extremely deep roots in American society and our Constitution statutes court cases and regulations not only bear witness to this but are often the source of it. This timeline provides an overview of some of these laws beginning with the first known case marking the legal difference between Africans and Europeans in 1640 in Virginia and continuing with laws recently introduced in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and other Black Americans. While not exhaustive the timeline focuses on a number of key legal events and actions that have structured and systematized racism in America."