We shall overcome : a history of civil rights and the law / Alexander Tsesis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tsesis, Alexander.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Civil rights--United States--History.

Civil rights.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (382 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Despite America's commitment to civil rights from the earliest days of nationhood, examples of injustices against minorities stain many pages of U.S. history. The battle for racial, ethnic, and gender fairness remains unfinished. This comprehensive book traces the history of legal efforts to achieve civil rights for all Americans, beginning with the years leading up to the Revolution and continuing to our own times. The historical adventure Alexander Tsesis recounts is filled with fascinating events, with real change and disappointing compromise, and with courageous individuals and organizations committed to ending injustice. Viewing the evolution of civil rights through the lens of legal history, Tsesis considers laws that have restricted civil rights (such as Jim Crow regulations and prohibitions against intermarriage) and laws that have expanded rights (including antisegregation legislation and other legal advances of the civil rights era). He focuses particular attention on the African American fight for civil rights but also discusses the struggles of women, gays and lesbians, Japanese Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Jews. He concludes by assessing the current state of civil rights in the United States and exploring likely future expansions of civil rights.

Contents:

Liberty through revolution

Constitutional republic of equals?

The controversy about slavery

Sectional compromise and national conflict

Reconstructing the American dream

Unraveling constitutional reconstruction

Political restrictions and developments

Progressive transitions

Rights in the regulatory state

The war against tyranny

Expanding civil rights

The Warren court's achievements

Sketches of the continuing legal effort.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [305]-354) and index.

ISBN:

9786612088650

9781282088658

1282088653

9780300145311

0300145314

OCLC:

567973958