| Thirty
years ago, in his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," Martin Luther King,
Jr., appealed to the American people to support a "constructive nonviolent"
struggle to create a racially integrated society. Although legal segregation
has been outlawed, America today seems in many ways even more fragmented
by racial and ethnic divisions. And, despite the passage of landmark
legislation in 1964 and 1965, the controversy surrounding civil rights
seems to have grown, with the extension of civil rights protection
to "new" groups including the disabled only creating further disputes
in American politics and the courts.
It is true that progress has been made in the struggle
for civil rights for racial and ethnic minorities and women. This
collection of essays, however, seeks more than simply to measure
the success of civil rights policy in America. Instead, the contributors
ask how both the civil rights problems and the policies developed
to remedy them have been affected by the distinctive historical
forces that have shaped the American political culture. Written
from diverse disciplinary, topical, and cultural perspectives, these
essays offer readers a broad and historically informed analysis
of civil rights policy that should foster reasoned discussion, academic
debate, and further research.
Contents
Introduction Hugh
Davis Graham
Race, History, and Policy: African Americans and
Civil Rights Since 1964 Hugh
Davis Graham
Equality Challenged: Equal Rights and Sexual Difference Jane Sherron
De Hart
The Ambivalent Minority: Mexican Americans and the
Voting Rights Act Peter
Skerry
A Historical Preface to the Americans with Disabilities
ActGérard Noiriel/"Civil Rights" Policy in the United States
and the Policy of "Integration" in Europe: Divergent Approaches
to a Similar Issue Edward
D. Berkowitz
Rights in Twentieth-Century Constitutions: The Case
of Welfare Rights Mary
Ann Glendon |
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