Racial Justice and Law

With such watershed events in the civil rights movement as Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and the civil rights acts of the 1960s, the eradication of racial subordination in America seemed an achievable goal. Yet, in America today, racial minorities continue to experience social and economic disadvantages, and race relations have even deteriorated in many respects. Whether law has aided or impeded the cause of civil rights in the past and the extent to which law can help to resolve racial issues in the present and future are questions of considerable controversy. This course will examine the response of law to racial issues in a variety of legal contexts. Topics will likely include the meaning of race, intimate relationships, child placement, education, employment, free expression and political participation. (Note: Policing and other criminal justice issues will be covered in the Race and Criminal Justice course.) The reading material is the casebook, Ralph Richard Banks, Kim Forde-Mazrui, Guy-Uriel Charles and Cristina Rodriguez, Racial Justice and Law: Cases and Materials (Foundation Press, 2016). Classes will center on candid discussion and class exercises about the issues raised by the assigned material. Attendance at the first class is very important, absent unavoidable extenuating circumstances.