Black Resistance/White Law - by Mary Frances Berry (Paperback)

About the Book

Unavailable for a decade and now completely updated for the 1990s, this landmark book shows how the American government has used the Constitution to maintain a racist status quo. Berry analyzes the reasons why African Americans whose lives have improved both socially and economically are still at risk of police abuse and largely unprotected from bias crimes.

Book Synopsis

How the government has used the Constitution to deny black Americans their legal rights

From the arrival of the first twenty slaves in Jamestown to the Howard Beach Incident of 1986, Yusef Hawkins, and Rodney King, federal law enforcement has pleaded lack of authority against white violence while endorsing surveillance of black rebels and using "constitutional" military force against them. In this groundbreaking study, constitutional scholar Mary Frances Berry analyzes the reasons why millions of African Americans whose lives have improved enormously, both socially and economically, are still at risk of police abuse and largely unprotected from bias crimes.

Review Quotes

"Once you've read this book, your understanding of race relations and your vision of America will be changed forever."--Don Edwards, former U.S. Representative

"Black Resistance/White Law offers an opportunity to revisit a historical experience that the successes of the civil rights movement of the past fifty years have allowed many of us to forget."--Chicago Tribune

About the Author

Mary Frances Berry is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, and the author of nine books. The recipient of thirty-three honorary degrees, she has been chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, is a regular contributor to Politico, and has appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher, Anderson Cooper 360, The Daily Show, Tavis Smiley, and PBS's NewsHour.