Law Race & Social Change in US

Catalog description

Examines the interrelationship between law and race in U.S. history, with an emphasis on the period 1860-present, exploring ways law both created and was a tool to challenge racial hierarchy. Groups addressed include African Americans, Asians, Native Americans, Hispanics. Topics include slavery, exclusionary immigration laws and policies, segregation, disfranchisement, lynching, criminal justice, immigration reform, the civil rights movement, the role of legal advocacy groups such as the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, Inc. Readings include pivotal court decisions as well as analyses by historians and legal scholars. Offered alternate year, fall. Not open to freshmen.