Race and Law

Catalog description

Race and Law is a 3-credit graduate law discussion class critically examining the ways laws and courts address issues of race and construct race relations in the United States. Primary readings are historical and modern legal cases, the U.S. constitution, relevant U.S. statutes, and interdisciplinary scholarship on race and law. This course studies the history of treatment of African-Americans, Native peoples, Latinos, Asians and White people in American law before we look at particular topic areas and contemporary legal analyses. Topics may include equality doctrine, education and segregation, civil rights (e.g., housing, employment, public accommodations, and legal responses to civil rights organizing), criminal laws, policing and profiling, and prisons, sexuality and family, immigration, and existing and potential legal remedies. Weekly reading assignments, periodic online exercises, and active, engaged class discussions of assigned materials are critical components of the course. Students are required to write a 10-12 page analytical paper on one of the topics covered in the course and based on course materials and readings. Students may also be required to facilitate a class discussion on reading assignments and create a research bibliography. This law school course is open to non-law graduate students on a limited basis. Non-law students are required to get permission of the professor before enrolling in this law school class.