Race Distinctions In American Law

The author presents a comprehensive discussion of laws that distinguished persons on the basis of race. He examines the Constitution, statutes, and judicial decisions of the United States and of the states and the territories between 1865 and 1910. In his summary he presents the view that the welfare of both races requires the recognition of race distinctions and the obliteration of race discriminations.

A comprehensive survey of the legal history of race in the United States, from slavery and Jim Crow to civil rights and affirmative action. Stephenson provides a meticulous analysis of the complex web of racial laws and policies that have shaped American society, and offers a thoughtful critique of the ongoing challenges of racism and discrimination. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Excerpt from Race Distinctions in American Law America has to-day no problem more perplexing and disquieting than that of the proper and permanent relations between the white and the colored races. Although it concerns most vitally the twenty millions of Caucasians and the eight millions of Negroes in eleven States of the South, still it is a national problem, because whatever affects one part of our national organism concerns the whole of it. Although this question has been considered from almost every conceivable standpoint, few have turned to the laws of the States and of the Nation to see how they bear upon it. It was with the hope of gaining new light on the subject from this source that I undertook the present investigation. I have examined the Constitutions, statutes, and judicial decisions of the United States and of the States and Territories between 1865 and the present to find the laws that have made any distinctions between persons on the basis of race. Reference has been made to some extent to laws in force before 1865, but only as the background of later legislation and decision. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Intended for use with the authors’ forthcoming casebook, Race, Racism, and American Law, Seventh Edition (forthcoming 2024), Race, Racism, and American Law: Leading Cases and Materials includes significant historical and contemporary cases and materials edited with an aim to foreground the most relevant sections and passages to illustrate the crucial role of race in the formation of US law. This new edition of Derrick Bell’s groundbreaking textbook Race, Racism, and American Law, like prior versions, eschews a traditional casebook format. The locus of analysis in this text is the struggle for racial justice, and its underlying history and political context as reflected in the ongoing contestation over law, legal reform, and transformation. As such the supplement includes but is not limited to Supreme Court cases. We follow Bell’s model of locating all edited cases and materials in the supplement, reserving the book’s text to provide historical and political context for significant cases or legislative actions, along with hypothetical questions, comments, and other tools of analysis. Professors and students will benefit from: Both legal and non-legal primary source material.Leading Cases and Materials includes selected historical and contemporary cases, legislation, and other legal materials that foreground the crucial role of race and racism, and the struggle for racial justice, within and through US law. A carefully selected compilation of United States Supreme Court Cases. Each case is chosen to guide readers through elements of US jurisprudence which reflect both reform and retrenchment of societal inequity as it relates to the question of race. Cases range from significant 18th century cases such as Johnson v. McIntosh (1823) (indigenous people cannot transfer full title to land) to contemporary civil rights decisions such as Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee (2021) (further limiting the reach of the Voting Rights Act) and Comcast v. National Association of African American Owned Media (2020) (limiting protections against racial discrimination in contracting). Doctrinally and theoretically significant cases from lower federal courts and state courts. Cases from lower courts are selected to provide critical race insights into how judicial institutions outside the US Supreme Court shape doctrine and debates over race and racial inequality. Cases range from Acre v. Douglass (9th Cir. 2015) (ban on teaching of Mexican American studies found unconstitutional) to Lobato v. Taylor (Colo. 2003) (speculator attempts to divest Mexican American landowners with defective title derived from Mexico). Significant legislative and executive legal documents. This supplement includes materials going beyond traditional edited cases, reflecting the insight that a critical race analysis necessitates a grasp of law beyond the courts. Additional materials range from the United States Department of Justice Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department (2015) to the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020. Benefits for instructors and students: Provokes discussion on contemporary and historical legal controversies cases and materials edited to address issues the lens of critical race theory’s conceptual framework

Bell (law, New York U.), in the newest edition of his work, continues his project of explaining "the law's role in concretizing racial difference, maintaining racial inequality, and reifying the status quo." He has updated a significant portion of the material, including the first chapter, introduced in the last edition, on the "nomenclature of race," which discusses the theoretical underpinnings of the emergence of race and racial meaning in the United States. Among the topics discussed in his treatment of race and American law are the use of "color-blind constitutionalism" to attack affirmative action; the use of history to legitimate American racial legal policy; developments in the areas of public accommodations, housing, and employment; discrimination in the administration of justice (including the death penalty); the state of the right to vote; and the impact of anti-racist and pro-racist protest on the law. Annotation : 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).