Diverse Voices - Databases for Social Justice Topics on HeinOnline

HeinOnline has some excellent curated collections for researchers interested in different social justice issues in American legal history. 

Page of Cherokee laws, in
Cherokee. The Cherokee syllabary
(not exactly an alphabet) was
developed by Sequoyah
(without using any other
writing system!) and introduced
to the Cherokee people in 1821.
Sequoyah Birthplace
Museum. The syllabary is still used.
See Cherokee Nation's Language page.

The American Indian Law Collection has thousands of documents from a variety of sources. Some are from the perspective of the federal government—the government reports, legislation, and treaties. But there are also tribal documents that Hein's editors have found, such as Acts of the Cherokee Nation from 1870-72, in Cherokee, as well as hundreds of other tribal constitutions, bylaws, and acts.  

Exploring further, you can find non-legal material, like Cry of the Thunderbird: The American Indian's Own Story, a collection edited by Charles Hamilton in 1950, and the recent collection, Why You Can't Teach United States History Without American Indians (2015).

The Civil Rights and Social Justice collection brings together scholarly articles, hearings, government reports, and briefs. Browsing the briefs, I saw many topics, including fair housing, marriage equality, affirmative action, health care, and employment discrimination. With one search you can pull up books, law review articles, briefs, and more.

Did you know that Langston Hughes wrote an illustrated history of the NAACP? I didn't. But Fight for Freedom: The Story of the NAACP (1962) is on HeinOnline!

Are you interested in slavery, which has been so important in shaping American law and society? Then make use of HeinOnline's collection, Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law. Edited by legal historian Paul Finkelman, this collection has statutes, cases, scholarly articles, books (from University of North Carolina Press), and an extensive bibliography. 

The Women and the Law collection (nicknamed Peggy, after a developer's mother) also has a wide variety of materials, from briefs to scholarly articles. It includes proceedings of a feminist legal theory conference that was held each year, 1985-2018. You can browse topics, such as abortion or suffrage. And it has a collection of biographies, from well-starched ladies from the nineteenth century to Florynce "Flo" Kennedy: The Life of a Black Feminist Radical, by Sherrie M. Randolph (2015).

 

Tip: When you follow a link to HeinOnline and are asked for authentication, choose Off-Campus/Remote Access. You'll want "University of Washington Gallagher Law Library," after which you'll be prompted for your UW NetID. I usually search for "gallagher" because that's faster than searching for "washington." (There's only one Gallagher in HeinOnline's list of subscribers, but there are several universities and law schools with "Washington" in their names.)

 

This post is part of the Gallagher Law Library’s Diverse Voices Series.

 

ACLU Papers Now Available Online

With the ACLU in the news recently and likely for the foreseeable future, you might be interested to learn more about the organization's history. 

Papers from the collection of the American Civil Liberties Union are now available to researchers through a database provided by GaleCengage. American Civil Liberties Union Papers, 1912-1990 [UW Restricted], a collection of clippings, client and member correspondence, case files, legal briefs, and administrative documents, will be interesting to law students who want to dig deeper into the history of some of the most-studied constitutional law cases of the 20th century.

Happy Civil Liberties Day!

The legislature declares that an annual day of recognition be observed in remembrance of Japanese Americans interned during World War II as a reminder that, regardless of the provocation, individual rights and freedoms must never be denied. RCW 1.16.090

February 19 is the "Day of Remembrance." On this day in 1942, Executive Order 9066 was signed. EO 9066 required the internment of all Americans of Japanese ancestry.

Washington State officially became the first and only state to recognize this day, in 2003 (see RCW 1.16.090 Legislative declaration for civil liberties day of remembrance). Some light legislative history research reveals that the bill (HB 1460) was passed unanimously.

The Washington State legislature made it official in 2003, but the history of the Day of Remembrance in Washington State dates back to 1978.

In fact, the nation's first Day of Remembrance was in Washington State. It was organized by the Evacuation Redress Committee and co-sponsored with many local organizations.

Here is a photo of Seattle Mayor Charles Royer signing a 1978 proclamation for the Day of Remembrance:

This photo, courtesy of the Kinoshita Family Collection, is from the Densho Encyclopedia, access it for more photos and Day of Remembrance history

For more information, check out our 2011 blogpost on this topic.

60th Anniversary of Rosa Park's Arrest

The U.S. Courts website features a short video of Rosa Park's arrest and how it led to several important civil rights decisions.

The video, drawing on interviews with U.S. District Judge Myron H. Thompson and lawyer Fred Gray, notes that Parks was not the first woman arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white patron. But when Parks’ arrest—on Dec. 1, 1955—sparked a citywide bus boycott, Gray enlisted four previously arrested women to file a class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court. 

A yearlong boycott ended after the Supreme Court affirmed in Browder v. Gayle that segregated buses are unconstitutional. 

The webpage also links to a theatrical re-enactment of Brown v. Board of Education.

The Law Library website has a guide on Brown v. Board of Education, with links to websites and books available in the Library.

60 Years Since Brown v. Board

Saturday marked the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), Google Scholar link.
After six decades, many students of color are in schools with few white students. In the Northeast, over half (51.4%) of black students are in schools whose student bodies are 90-100% minority. See

• Niraj Chokshi, The Most Segregated Schools May Not Be in the States You'd Expect, Wash. Post, May 15, 2014
• Emily Badger, Housing Segregation Is Holding Back the Promise of Brown v. Board of Education, Wash. Post, May 15, 2014

For lots more statistics and analysis, see:

• Gary Orfield et al., Brown at 60: Great Progress, a Long Retreat and an Uncertain Future (UCLA Civil Rights Project, May 15, 2014). A press release about this report is here.

Segregation by race is not the only issue. Communities are increasingly segregated by income too:

• Kendra Bischoff & Sean F. Reardon, Residential Segregation by Income, 1970-2009 (2013) (Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis)

For historical materials, see

• Library of Congres, Brown v. Board at Fifty: "With an Even Hand" (2004)
• Seattle University Law Library, Brown v. Board of Education: A 50th Anniversary Exhibit (2004)
• Separate But Equal?: The Road to Brown (part of UMKC Law School's Exploring Constitutional Conflicts web project).

And to look at the issues locally, see Segregated Seattle, a collection of materials from the Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project at the UW.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. CNN has produced a short video, 5 Things You Didn't Know About the 1964 Civil Rights Act:


 

There's terrific footage, including President Johnson's speech when he signed the law on July 2. The accompanying article is Many Doubt 1964 Civil Rights Act Could Pass Today, April 9, 2014.

New books 
Todd S. Purdum, An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Classified Stacks (KF4744.5151964 .P87 2014)

• Publisher's page
• Author interview on Fresh Air: The Politics of Passing 1964's Civil Rights Act, Jan. 20, 2014

Clay Risen, The Bill of the Century: The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act, Classified Stacks (KF4749 .R57 2014)

• Publisher's page

The LBJ Presidential Library is hosting The Civil Rights Summit: We Shall Overcome, April 8-10. See also (or hear also): Don Gonyea, LBJ Legacy: Vietnam War Often Overshadows Civil Rights Feat, NPR Morning Edition, April 9, 2014.

Happy Juneteenth!

Although Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865, the word that the war was over and the slaves were free didn't get to Galveston, Texas, until June 19, 1865. The anniversary has been celebrated as Juneteenth in many communities since then.

The Washington legislature recognized Juneteenth in 2007:

The legislature recognizes that on June 19, 1865, Union soldiers landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War had ended and the slaves were now free; that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863; that the end of slavery brought on new challenges and realities in establishing a previously nonexistent status for African-Americans in the United States; that racism and continued inequality is the legacy of slavery and acknowledging it is the first step in its eradication; and that since 1980 June 19th has been celebrated as Juneteenth across the United States as a day for people to come together in the spirit of reconciliation to commemorate the contributions of African-Americans to this country's history and culture.       

The legislature declares that an annual day of recognition be observed in remembrance of the day the slaves realized they were free as a reminder that individual rights and freedoms must never be denied.

Laws 2007, c 61 § 1 (codified in RCW 1.16.050).

Ralph Ellison's novel Juneteenth was published five years after his death, based on manuscripts in the Library of Congress.

"'There've been a heap of Juneteenths gone by and there'll be a heap more before we're free.' That's what Ellison was saying to every one of us."

—John F. Callahan, Ellison's literary executor, quoting a character in the book
The book is available in campus libraries (Suzzallo/Allen Stacks PS3555.L625 J86 1999, Tacoma, and Bothell).

See last year's Juneteenth post here.

Lawyer Rates Jails & Prisons on Yelp

5 star hotels are generally recognized for their luxurious accommodations, excellent room service and superior service. So what does a 5 star jail look like?

Prison Cells

According to lawyer, Robert Miller, the Theo Lacy jail in Orange County, California is worthy of a coveted 5 star Yelp review for being "the newest, and thus the cleanest and best organized of all the jail facilities in the County of Orange" as well as having deputies who are nice and friendly to lawyers and other professionals. Lawyers are not the only ones who have been rating correctional facilities, inmates have taken to Yelp to voice concerns (ranging from rodent and roach problems to riots and guard/inmate abuse) and also to make positive comments. One reviewer who stayed at Geiger Corrections in Spokane gave the facility a 4 star review praising Taco Mondays, pleasant guards and being able to talk to female prisoners (he did subtract 1 star for "loss of personal freedom").

One does not usually have a choice in which facility they are placed, so what purpose do the Yelp reviews serve? According to the Washington Post, Yelp reviews of correctional facilities have caused a bit of controversy. While on one hand, one must recognize that visiting a jail is not the same thing as visiting a restaurant or a movie theater (pointed out by a spokesman for the Los Angeles Country Sheriff); on the other hand, increasing awareness of mistreatment and poor conditions in prisons and jails is recognized as "a positive thing" by the director of the National Prison Project of the ACLU.

The veracity of the Yelp reviews have been questioned but it is worth noting that while the occupants at Theo Lacy jail might be in one of the highest reviewed jails in California, the King County jail here in Seattle has the lowest possible Yelp rating (1 star) by all of its reviewers.

Photo credit: www.defense.gov

Preparing for the Fisher v. University of Texas SCOTUS Oral Arguments

As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares for oral arguments this week in the Fisher v. University of Texas case, many are starting to get curious: why exactly all the hype? Since the 2003 SCOTUS decision, Grutter v. Bollinger, the University of Texas has been using race as a factor in the admissions process. The problem with this, the petitioner argues, is that diversity is already considered and adjusted for via the state’s unique Top 10 Percent Law, and therefore the race-conscious admissions violate her right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. If Grutter is overturned by the Fisher case, then affirmative action in higher education will be greatly affected.

Because of this potential impact, I thought I would take this time to mention a few resources to get up to speed as the chatter increases in anticipation for the oral arguments set for Wednesday, October 10, 2012:

The first is a great new library guide that I had the pleasure of contributing to during a recent internship at the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas at Austin. This guide includes the key docket entries from each stage of the case, beginning with the Western District of Texas through the U.S. Supreme Court. You will also find links and PDFs of selected scholarly publications and news articles discussing both background and in depth elements of the case. There are also links to the text of this Top 10 Percent Law.

As always, the SCOTUSblog is a great website to consult on upcoming cases. The blog has some great coverage and also includes links to important court documents.

The Gallagher Law Library also maintains a couple of books that may be of interest:

• Patricia Marin & Catherine L. Hor, Realizing Bakke's Legacy: Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity, and Access to Higher Education (2008).
• Timothy R. Johnson & Jerry Goldman, A Good Quarrel: America's Top Legal Reporters Share Stories from Inside the Supreme Court (2009) (for a fun read about Grutter).

I hope you enjoy the insight!

Happy Juneteenth

William Green, ex-slave, San Antonio

Today marks Juneteenth, "the day slavery in the United States effectively ended."

For this reason, Juneteenth (also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day) is the perfect occasion to engage in research and reflection. At the University of Washington, the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project is an important resource for civil rights researchers, including those who are interested in studying the African-American experience.  Here one can find oral histories, maps, and other "resources for exploring the civil rights activism of African Americans in the Pacific Northwest." 

In honor of Juneteenth, why not also take a look at the African American Heritage Sourcebook: A Tribute to Thurgood Marshall?  Another suggestion in this regard would be to read (or reread) this gem of a letter.

Indeed, however you choose to celebrate it, Happy Juneteenth.

(A hat tip to Trent Hill, who assigned "To My Old Master" for his class, Organization of Information and Resources; Image credit: Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-125171 (b&w film copy neg.), from Portraits of African American ex-slaves from the U.S. Works Progress Administration, Federal Writers' Project slave narratives collections, available at http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/99615237/)

International Jazz Day

Today is International Jazz Day. UNESCO created this event "to raise awareness in the international community of the virtues of jazz as an educational tool, and a force for peace, unity, dialogue and enhanced cooperation among people." Don't feel bad if you don't remember celebrating it in years past: April 30, 2012, is the very first.

What aspect of jazz and the law should I feature in our post for this first International Jazz Day? There's jazz and copyright (see, e.g., Note, Jazz Has Got Copyright Law and That Ain't Good, 118 Harv. L. Rev. 1940 (2005), HeinOnline) or jazz and land use regulation (see Paul Chevigny, Gigs: Jazz and the Cabaret Laws in New York City (1991), catalog record).

For now, let's look at one instance of jazz, civil rights, and aviation law.

In July 1954, Ella Fitzgerald was traveling with John Lewis (her pianist) and Georgiana Henry (her secretary) from San Francisco to Sydney, with a stop for refueling in Honolulu, where they would be joined by Norman Granz, Fitzgerald's manager.* After the stop in Hawaii, though, Pan American staff would not let Fitzgerald, Lewis, and Henry reboard the aircraft. They weren't even allowed to go back on to retrieve the personal items they'd left at their seats. They were stranded for three days and missed some Australian concert dates.

They sued, alleging that they had been subjected to this humiliation because they were Negroes. Pan Am denied discrimination. Pan Am also tried to get the case dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, but the Second Circuit held that the Civil Aviation Act created a cause of action "arising under" federal law. Fitzgerald v. Pan Am. World Airways, 229 F.2d 499 (2d Cir. 1956). The parties later settled. Thanks to the National Archives, which has the court records, you can read the complaint, a typescript of the Second Circuit decision, and the Satisfaction of Judgment (this is only for $76, but the Chicago Defender reported that the full settlement was $7,000). The Chicago Defender is among the e-newspapers available from the UW Libraries.

Ella Fitzgerald is among the artists on PAN AM: Music From And Inspired By The Original Series (From the Pan Am Soundtrack). (The television show is set in 1963, almost a decade after the incident.)

See also Kate Kelly, Airline Passengers Needed Their Own Rosa Parks, Huffington Post, Nov. 17, 2009. This post discusses other incidents of Jim Crow flying, including Jackie Robinson's difficulties getting to spring training in Florida.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*

On the touring circuit it was well-known that Ella's manager felt very strongly about civil rights and required equal treatment for his musicians, regardless of their color. Norman refused to accept any type of discrimination at hotels, restaurants or concert halls, even when they traveled to the Deep South.

Once, while in Dallas touring for the Philharmonic, a police squad irritated by Norman's principles barged backstage to hassle the performers. They came into Ella's dressing room, where band members Dizzy Gillespie and Illinois Jacquet were shooting dice, and arrested everyone.

"They took us down," Ella later recalled, "and then when we got there, they had the nerve to ask for an autograph."

from ellafitzgerald.com

Bridging the Past

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law in August, but in many respects, this month marks the Act's true anniversary. Indeed, most observers would agree that the immediate impetus behind this landmark legislation was the Selma-to-Montgomery march for voting rights, which started on March 7, 1965 ("Bloody Sunday").

Besides being a good time to reflect on this history, it is also a good time to read about it. Now through March 15, UW students, faculty, and staff have access to the Pittsburgh Courier, the New York Amsterdam News, and the Baltimore Afro-American—three preeminent African American newspapers that chronicled and helped shape the civil rights movement in this country.

These titles are being evaluated as part of a broader ProQuest Historical Newspapers trial. Currently, when it comes to the pantheon of the historical Black press, the UW library system subscribes only to the Chicago Defender. Users, for their part, can provide feedback to the library staff by clicking the ask us! link.
Newspapers like the Courier, the Amsterdam News, and the Afro-American are wonderful resources in any context, but they are especially useful for purposes of conducting civil-rights research. With any luck, these titles will become part of UW's regular subscription package. For now, we have an extraordinary opportunity to read the words that shaped our history.

Photo credits: (top) Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Miscellaneous Items in High Demand (Collection), LC-DIG-ppmsca-08102. Peter Pettus, photographer. (lower) Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-USF33-012992-M3. Russell Lee, photographer.

Film and Discussion: Civil Rights in 1961 and 2011

Organizers of the National Immigrant Integration Conference, taking place Oct. 24-26, invite the public to an evening event on Tues., Oct. 25: Connecting Across Movements and Generations 50 Years Later

Acclaimed film maker and Emmy-winning MacArthur "genius" fellow Stanley Nelson will share clips from his documentary "Freedom Riders," an inspiring documentary of the more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives to end legal segregation in the Deep South.
The Freedom Riders endured savage beatings and imprisonment to assert their humanity and to challenge the federal government to intervene on the side of justice. Today, our country desperately needs fresh energy from diverse people working together to enlarge social and economic justice. DREAM activists - undocumented young people who have been "coming out" by the hundreds - have been called the Freedom Riders of our day. Together with people of all ages and backgrounds, they are taking profound risks in standing up for immigrants and refugees as integral members of American society. 
Join us a rare and inspiring dialogue between civil rights activists and participants in the immigrant rights' movement as they exchange stories and lessons.

This event is free and open to the public. Tuesday, Oct. 25, 6:30-8 pm, Westin Hotel Grand Ballroom.

You can watch "Freedom Riders" here:

Watch Freedom Riders on PBS. See more from American Experience.

Derrick Bell, Pioneering Harvard Law Professor, Dies at 80 - NYTimes.com

Confronting Authority book jacket

Derrick Bell, a legal scholar who saw persistent racism in America and sought to expose it through books, articles and provocative career moves — he gave up a Harvard Law School professorship to protest the school’s hiring practices — died on Wednesday in Manhattan.

Derrick Bell, Pioneering Harvard Law Professor, Dies at 80 - NYTimes.com, Oct. 6, 2011.

Check out some of Bell's work:

• The Derrick Bell Reader (Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic eds.) KF4755 .B45 2005 at Classified Stacks
• And We Are Not Saved: The Elusive Quest for Racial Justice, E185.615 .B39 1987 at Classified Stacks
• Silent Covenants: Brown v. Board of Education and the Unfulfilled Hopes for Racial Reform, KF4155 .B38 2004 at Good Reads
• Confronting Authority: Reflections of an Ardent Protester, KF292.H325 B35 1994 at Classified Stacks
• Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism, E185.615 .B395 1992 at Classified Stacks
• And We Are Not Saved: The Elusive Quest for Racial Justice, E185.615 .B39 1987 at Classified Stacks
• Ethical Ambition: Living a Life of Meaning and Worth (2002) (available from Summit libraries)

Civil Rights Leader Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth Dies

Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, who was a leader in Birmingham's civil rights community through the 1950s and 1960s, has died at age 88. See (or hear) Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Civil Rights Pioneer, Dies, All Things Considered, NPR, Oct. 5, 2011.

The protests in Birmingham organized by Rev. Shuttlesworth and his colleague Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., whom he invited to the city, were significant in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. See David Benjamin Oppenheimer, Kennedy, King, Shuttlesworth and Walker: The Events Leading to the Introduction of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 29 U. S.F. L. Rev. 645 (1995), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1500045.

For more, see:

Nick Kotz, Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws That Changed America, E847 .K67 2005 at Good Reads. Publisher's page.	Judgment Days book jacket
Alexander Tsesis, We Shall Overcome: A History of Civil Rights and the Law, JC599.U5 T74 2008 at Classified Stacks (currently checked out, but you could request it). Publisher's page.	We Shall Overcome book jacket
And for a look at the local story, see Joan Singler et al., Seattle in Black and White: The Congress of Racial Equality and the Fight for Equal Opportunity, F899.S49 N464 2011 at Classified Stacks. Publisher's page.	Seattle in Black and White book jacket

Upcoming symposium: Viva La Causa!

Viva La Causa! Organizing Farm Workers in the Pacific Northwest During the 60's is an upcoming symposium being held to celebrate the life and work of the late labor leader and civil rights activist César Chávez.

A panel of prominent organizers and activists that worked in the state of Washington, who also collaborated and were inspired by Chávez, will discuss Chávez’s enduring influence in our state.

When: 2 - 5 p.m., April 20, 2011

Where: Walker Ames Room, Kane Hall

For more information about the three-month-long series of events celebrating Chávez's life and work, "Viva La Causa: César Chávez and the Pacific Northwest," see the American Ethnic Studies site.

In Brown's Wake

Everyone knows Brown v. Board of Education is a landmark case, but just how has it affected education and civil rights? Martha Minow explores that question in In Brown's Wake: Legacies of America's Educational Landmark (KF4155 .M56 2010 at Classified Stacks).

Minow looks at a number of educational policies and how they affect communities and children: racial segregation and integration; separate schools for boys and girls; access to education for disabled children; education of immigrant children; school choice, charter schools, vouchers.

In her final chapter, Minow writes this summary:

Inside the United States, Brown may turn out to have more influence on racial justice outside the context of schooling, more influence on schooling outside the context of racial integration, and more significance to law outside of both race and schooling. Brown's rejection of "separate but equal" schools spurred the end of segregation in retail stores, theaters, swimming pools, and employment, though often only after a struggle and legislative or litigated reforms. . . .

Brown's influence inside schools but outside of the context of race has profoundly altered the discussions and treatment of gender, disability, language, ethnicity, and national origin, with further changes in the way educational and life opportunities of students are affected by their sexual orientation, religion, economic class, or status as Native Hawai'ians or Native Americans.

Well beyond schooling, Brown and the efforts surrounding it have created the model for social and legal reforms in the United States -- deploying social science research, and social movement activism -- on behalf of girls and women, persons with disabilities, members of religious minorities, and advocates for economic justice, environmental protection and other issues.

. . . As in the United States, the case and the struggle behind it have served as an evocative reference point for advocates pursuing equal opportunity and social change in Northern Ireland, South Africa, India, and eastern Europe and even for initiatives addressing social hierarchy and exclusion without connection to race or education.

The publisher's page is here.

US Government Settles with Black Farmers

Yesterday the USDA and the Department of Justice announced a settlement in a lawsuit by black farmers who claimed discrimination by the USDA. The government -- contingent on appropriation by Congress -- will pay $1.25 billion to claimants in the class.

This is actually the second settlment in the case, Pigford v. Vilsack (originally Pigford v. Glickman): thousands of claims have been adjudicated under a 1999 consent decree. The government paid out over $1 billion to about 16,000 farmers. USDA Reaches New Settlement With Black Farmers, N.Y. Times, Feb. 18, 2010.

The 1999 consent decress established a monitor to (1) report on the implementation of the Consent Decree; (2) attempt to resolve problems that class members may have with respect to the Consent Decree; (3) decide the merits of Petitions for Monitor Review; and (4) set up a toll-free number to respond to the questions of class members. The monitor's website is here.

Slavery by Another Name

Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II is at times hard to read -- and yet so compelling that it's hard to put down.

Douglas Blackmon, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal discovered the untold story of convict laborers in Birmingham's steel industry. His work on a newspaper article grew through painstaking research in the National Archives, local court records, newspaper archives, and piles of data, resulting in this impressive book.

For decades after the official end of slavery, African Americans were subject to arrest (for vagrancy, leaving a farm before one's employment contract was up, carrying a weapon, and other crimes), perfunctory trials, fines they could not pay, and subsequent "sale" to employers who had them labor in execreble conditions, spending their days and nights in shackles.

Around 1903 a U.S. Attorney in Alabama (with the blessing of Teddy Roosevelt's administration) prosecuted a few of the men involved in this dirty business. Despite convictions, the practice continued for decades.

An important look into U.S. history -- and legal history.

Check it out: E185.2 .B545 2009 at Good Reads.

Prof. Schnapper Testifies on Pleading Rules

Congress is considering legislation to undo the Supreme Court's holdings in Bell Atlantic v. Twombly (2007) and Ashcroft v. Iqbal (2009). The Washington Independent reports:

Does a House bill about legal civil procedures provide a way to restore the protection of civil rights in America, or is it an unwarranted gift to trial lawyers that could be “paralyzing if not deadly” to the federal government?

* * *

As in the Senate, House lawmakers appear divided along party lines. Democrats and their witnesses say that the Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Bell Atlantic v. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal have gutted the civil rights and antitrust laws and imposed an unfair and often insurmountable burden that will doom many valid claims. Republicans and their witnesses, meanwhile, say the court did the right thing to help reduce frivolous lawsuits that destroy small businesses and drag busy government officials into court unnecessarily.

Has the Supreme Court Undermined Civil Rights Enforcement?, Washington Independent, Dec. 17, 2009.

One of the witnesses was Prof. Eric Schnapper of the University of Washington, who argued that Congress should act quickly to overturn Iqbal and Twombly. whose 39-page prepared statement is here. The bill being considered in the House is H.R. 4115, the Open Access to Courts Act of 2009.