RACE, RACISM & AMERICAN LAW

Catalog description

This course will explore the historical and contemporary relationship among racism, race, and law in the United States. Students will examine the role played by law in the historical treatment of African-Americans, American Indians, Latinos, Asian-American and Whites, as well as the impact of legal rules and doctrines on the condition and status of these groups today. Legal rules will be examined in light of developments in the social sciences regarding the nature of race, racism and prejudice. Moreover, the class will cover topics such as reparations, affirmative action, voting rights, residential and educational segregation, race and crime, the intersections of race and gender and race and class, and the developing notion of legal equality.