This is a course on legal reforms wrought by
struggles for racial equality between approximately 1948 and 1968. The
focus of the course will be on the de-legitimation of “separate but equal”
(see, e.g, Brown v. Board of Education), the outlawing of racial
discrimination in certain “private” settings (see, e.g. Title II and Title VII
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968), and efforts
to uproot racial disfranchisement (see, e.g. The Voting Rights Act of 1965).
The course stems from a book in which I am deeply engaged. It is
tentatively entitled From Protest to Law: Triumphs and Defeats of the Black
Revolts, 1948-1968. [1 credit] Pass/Fail.