Book Description
A monumental investigation of the Supreme Court's rulings on race, From Jim Crow To Civil Rights spells out in compelling detail the political and social context within which the Supreme Court Justices operate and the consequences of their decisions for American race relations. In a highly provocative interpretation of the decision's connection to the civil rights movement, Klarman argues that Brown was more important for mobilizing southern white opposition to racial change than for encouraging direct-action protest. Brown unquestioningly had a significant impact--it brought race issues to public attention and it mobilized supporters of the ruling. It also, however, energized the opposition. In this authoritative account of constitutional law concerning race, Michael Klarman details, in the richest and most thorough discussion to date, how and whether Supreme Court decisions do, in fact, matter. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Supreme Court and civil rights cases
This was required reading for a graduate course in American history.

The question that the author posits is: does the Supreme Court actually affect society? Klarman contends that Supreme Court rulings in the 1940s, specifically when dealing with criminal procedure (as opposed to black enfranchisement), had little tangible impact on the lives of African Americans in the South. He cites four cases, Moore v. Dempsey (1923), which dealt with verdicts rendered amid mob pressure, Powell v. Alabama (1932), which dealt with the appointment of adequate counsel for felonies, Norris v. Alabama (1935), which dealt with jury selections, and Brown v. Mississippi
(1936), which dealt with confessions obtained using torture.

Klarman contends that despite these constitutional safeguard, African American rights were still trampled in the South. He cites numerous "legal loopholes" for circumventing these cases, or in some cases, just blatant disregard. For instance, many times, lawyers were appointed at most a few days before trial, and were unable to adequately prepare. He also cites the reluctance of white lawyers to take on black clients for fear of reprisal, and out of blatant racism. After the Norris ruling, African Americans were usually selected to be in the jury pool, but never on the juries. The use of torture
was always suspect, and a jury would almost always take a white sheriffs word over a black mans if he claimed he was tortured. Lynching and mob violence still permeated Southern Courts as well. Klarman maintains that there was a set of "unwritten laws" which governed the South despite the federal rulings of the Supreme Court.Klarman also contends that the Supreme Court even showed hesitance toward their professed principles. Despite passing this legislation, the Supreme Court did not always enforce their decisions. Despite obvious "miscarriages of justice," many felt that even the presence of these rulings-whether enforced or not-was a step in the right direction (although I think many African Americans would probably disagree with this).It is an argument of intention versus actuality.

He contends that Supreme Court justices are products of their time and rarely make groundbreaking decisions, instead he contends that justices are "a part of the society that they are trying to transform," and cannot truly step outside of that society.Rather, they can only "go with the flow." And this I believe to be his thesis. He cites public opinion at the time of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and Brown v. Board of Education, and that those cases were not truly revolutionary because the "tide" of public opinion was moving in that direction.

However, while Klarman denies the existence of tangible gains resulting from these cases, he does not think them futile. Instead, he posits that these cases led to intangible results for the African-American community. Namely, it gave African
Americans confidence that the oppressive system in which they lived could be changed, however slightly. All in all, Klarman believes that these verdicts, while not rendering tangible results, began the impetus to toward a higher race consciousness in the United States, and ultimately to the groundbreaking civil rights legislation of the 1960s. The
decisions showed that change was possible, and thus were relevant, but not in a conventional sense. And I believe this to a story of wider historical analysis. Events such as the civil rights movement usually do not simply "occur," they have visible, sometimes intangible; antecedents that eventually help to birth a new consensuses.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history, civil rights history.

An Insightful Work That Should Not Be Missed
This work is full of interesting, insightful, and provocative ideas that will make readers rethink the impact of the Supreme Court's civil rights decisions.I predict that the revisionist arguments in this masterpiece will some day become the orthodoxy.This book will be read by many future generations of American history and law students.

Truly a masterpiece
Having had the opportunity to hear Professor Klarman speak, I knew before reading the book that it would be a great work of scholarship.I was blown away.Meticulously researched, eminently readable, and full of the details necessary to support any conclusions about that troubling time in American history.It's a must read for every law student, historian, and American.

comprehensive and interesting
A comprehensive account not just of civil rights legal history, but also the political and social context that Klarman shows were never far in the background of court decisions regarding civil rights.The book doesn't just chronical events, but uses history to test and illustrate theories for why courts decide cases as they do.

Masterpiece of Revisionist Civil Rights History
Michael J. Klarman's bookFrom Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality is the best book written about civil rights in America in quite some time.Klarman's book is one of the few works about the civil rights movement that analyzes the significant change that occurred in racial attitudes during 1900-1954 as well as the movement itself.

Klarman's book is a revisionist account that downplays the importance of the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education case.Klarman contends that there would have been a civil rights movement even if the Supreme Court had ruled the other way in Brown.Klarman believes that the conventional history gives court rulings too much credit for effecting change in America. Essentially, Klarman believes that the federal court system is actually very weak and does not affect America much in the long run.

Klarman believes, for instance, that the White Court's civil rights rulings during the Progressive Era did nothing to help blacks.Other than the Smith case of 1944, Klarman does not believe that Supreme Court rulings helped black Americans.In the Smith case, Klarman holds that it effectively opened the door for some black participation in Southern politics.

A large part of Klarman's book is devoted to debunking the idea that the Brown ruling helped speed the civil rights movement. Klarman holds that the Brown decision did little to inspire blacks to seek redress for racial grievances.He does, however, concede that the media coverage of Brown did help raise consciousness among white folks about racial injustice in the South.

Klarman's book is a revisionist account of civil rights history. It is well-written, makes its points well and isbacked up by prodigious research.It deserves a wide audience. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Chinese America: History and Perspectives, published by Thomson Gale on January 1, 2007. The length of the article is 4641 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: "My race, too, is queer" (1): queer mixed heritage Chinese Americans fight for marriage equality (2).(6D Paper)(Law overview)
Author: Wei Ming Dariotis
Publication: Chinese America: History and Perspectives (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Page: 33(5)

Article Type: Law overview

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Book Description
This important book addresses head-on the controversy over attempts to reshape society in the name of antidiscrimination. Andrew Koppelman discusses how to reconcile Americans` commitment to eliminating discrimination with their commitment to such values as individual liberty, merit-based access to education and employment, and communal solidarity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Making the case for non-discrimination laws
A readable and closely argued guide to thinking about the means and ends of laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of particular group characteristics such as race, gender, or sexuality.This book is a needed weapon against the angry-white-male demagogues who love to exploit the public's lack of understanding about why such laws exist, how they work, and why they're needed. Incidentally, one of Koppelman's important contributions as a scholar is his persuasive exposition of why discrimination against lesbians and gay men should be viewed under the law as a form of *gender* discrimination, in that it reinforces a hierarchy of gender-related roles and taboos -- the same hierarchy that laws protecting the rights of women were intended to demolish.

Antidiscrimination Law by Koppelman
Koppelman provides a useful discussion of the law of antidiscrimination,but he provides something more to both the lawyer and nonlawyer reader. His analyses of various social justice theories and the philosophies andconcepts surrounding the politics and law of antidiscrimination lawchallenge the reader to re-examine the limits and potential ofantidiscrimination law.He also explores in new and provocative waysaffirmative action, as well as First Amendment free speech concepts asapplied to women's issues and hate speech.This is an enormously importantwork for both the serious student and critic of social justice. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Issues in Legal Scholarship, published by Berkeley Electronic Press on May 29, 2003. The length of the article is 8792 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: "Black" and "White" in Brown: equal protection and the legal construction of racial identities.(response to article by Owen Fiss, Philosophy and Public Affairs, vol. 5, p. 107, 1976)
Author: Rogers M. Smith
Publication: Issues in Legal Scholarship (Refereed)
Date: May 29, 2003
Publisher: Berkeley Electronic Press
Page: NA

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, published by Commission for Racial Equality on April 1, 2000. The length of the article is 785 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: The British Immigration Courts: A Study of Law and Politics.(Review)
Author: Catherine Puzzo
Publication: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2000
Publisher: Commission for Racial Equality
Volume: 26Issue: 2Page: 370

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, published by Commission for Racial Equality on April 1, 1998. The length of the article is 708 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: From Direct Action to Affirmative Action: Fair Employment Law and Policy in America, 1933-1972. (book reviews)
Author: John Edwards
Publication: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 1998
Publisher: Commission for Racial Equality
Volume: v24Issue: n2Page: p388(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, published by Commission for Racial Equality on January 1, 1998. The length of the article is 899 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Migrant Workers in International Human Rights Law: Their Protection in Countries of Employment. (book reviews)
Author: Michael Banton
Publication: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 1998
Publisher: Commission for Racial Equality
Volume: v24Issue: n1Page: p217(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, published by Commission for Racial Equality on January 1, 2001. The length of the article is 599 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: The Future of Tradition: Customary Law, Common Law and Legal Pluralism.(Review)
Author: Peter Rushton
Publication: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2001
Publisher: Commission for Racial Equality
Volume: 27Issue: 1Page: 173

Article Type: Book Review

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This digital document is an article from Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, published by Commission for Racial Equality on January 1, 1999. The length of the article is 848 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Ethnicity, Law and Human Rights: The English Experience.(Review)
Author: Ryszard Cholewinski
Publication: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 1999
Publisher: Commission for Racial Equality
Volume: 25Issue: 1Page: 151(1)

Article Type: Book Review

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This digital document is an article from Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, published by Commission for Racial Equality on July 1, 2001. The length of the article is 1990 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Reality Demands: Documenting Violations of International Humanitarian Law in Kosovo, 1999. (Reviews). (book review)
Author: Jens Stilhoff Sorensen
Publication: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2001
Publisher: Commission for Racial Equality
Volume: 27Issue: 3Page: 551(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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This digital document is an article from Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, published by Commission for Racial Equality on April 1, 1999. The length of the article is 941 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Current Issues of UK Asylum Law and Policy.(Review)
Author: Elspeth Guild
Publication: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 1999
Publisher: Commission for Racial Equality
Volume: 25Issue: 2Page: 345

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This digital document is an article from Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, published by Commission for Racial Equality on October 1, 2002. The length of the article is 635 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Janet MacGaffey and Remy Bazenguissa-Ganga, Congo-Paris: Transnational Traders on the Margins of the Law.(Book Review)
Author: Khalid Koser
Publication: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 2002
Publisher: Commission for Racial Equality
Volume: 28Issue: 4Page: 757(2)

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, published by Commission for Racial Equality on January 1, 1998. The length of the article is 7637 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is one of the greatest successes of the Council of Europe. The convention, signed in Rome by 14 European states in November 1950, has been subsequently ratified by most of the 40 Council of Europe State Parties and has 11 Additional Protocols, of which nine are already in force. An overview of the ECHR articles relevant to immigration and emigration issues is presented.

Citation Details
Title: Racial discrimination and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Author: Cristina J. Gortazar Rotaeche
Publication: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 1998
Publisher: Commission for Racial Equality
Volume: v24Issue: n1Page: p177(12)

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