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On account of race : the Supreme Court, white supremacy, and the ravaging of African American voting rights / Lawrence Goldstone.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Berkeley, California : Counterpoint, 2020Copyright date: ©2020Edition: First hardcover editionDescription: xii, 283 pages ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781640093928
  • 1640093923
Subject(s):
Contents:
Introduction -- Prologue : Overthrow -- Who Votes? -- Two Amendments ... -- Power in Black and White : The Klan -- ... and a Third : Equal Rights Comes to the Ballot Box -- A Fragile Illusion -- Any Way You Slice It : The Slaughter-House Cases -- Equality by Law : The Civil Rights Act of 1875 -- The Uncertainty of Language : United States v. Reese -- Rutherfraud Ascends, But Not Equal Rights -- A Slight Case of Murder : The Strange Journey of Strauder v. West Virginia. -- Tightening the Knot: Virginia v. Rives -- Strangling the Constitution : The Civil Rights Cases. -- The Curious Incident of the Chinese Laundry and Equal Protection -- Mississippi Leads the South -- The First Test : Mills v. Green. -- Peer Review : Williams v. Mississippi. -- Refining Redemption -- Forging an Attack -- The Window Slams Shut : Giles v Harris. -- Epilogue : Stolen Justice.
Summary: "Beginning in 1876, the Court systematically dismantled both the equal protection guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment, at least for African-Americans, and what seemed to be the guarantee of the right to vote in the Fifteenth. And so, of the more than 500,000 African-Americans who had registered to vote across the South, the vast majority former slaves, by 1906, less than ten percent remained. Many of those were terrified to go the polls, lest they be beaten, murdered, or have their homes burned to the ground. None of this was done in the shadows-those determined to wrest the vote from black Americans could not have been more boastful in either intent or execution. But the Court chose to ignore the obvious and wrote decisions at odds with the Constitution, preferring to instead reinforce the racial stereotypes of the day. "On Account of Race" tells the story of an American tragedy, the only occasion in United States history in which a group of citizens who had been granted the right to vote then had it stripped away. Even more unjust was that this theft of voting rights was done with full approval, even the sponsorship, of the United States Supreme Court"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 342.7308 G624 Available 33111010419741
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Winner of the Lillian Smith Book Award

An award-winning constitutional law historian examines case-based evidence of the court's longstanding racial bias (often under the guise of "states rights") to reveal how that prejudice has allowed the court to solidify its position as arguably the most powerful branch of the federal government.

One promise of democracy is the right of every citizen to vote. And yet, from our founding, strong political forces were determined to limit that right. The Supreme Court, Alexander Hamilton wrote, would protect the weak against this very sort of tyranny. Still, as On Account of Race forcefully demonstrates, through the better part of American history the Court has instead been a protector of white rule. And complex threats against the right to vote persist even today.

Beginning in 1876, the Supreme Court systematically dismantled both the equal protection guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment and what seemed to be the right to vote in the Fifteenth. And so a half million African Americans across the South who had risked their lives and property to be allowed to cast ballots were stricken from voting rolls by white supremacists. This vacuum allowed for the rise of Jim Crow. None of this was done in the shadows--those determined to wrest the vote from black Americans could not have been more boastful in either intent or execution.

On Account of Race tells the story of an American tragedy, the only occasion in United States history in which a group of citizens who had been granted the right to vote then had it stripped away. It is a warning that the right to vote is fragile and must be carefully guarded and actively preserved lest American democracy perish.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-271) and index.

Introduction -- Prologue : Overthrow -- Who Votes? -- Two Amendments ... -- Power in Black and White : The Klan -- ... and a Third : Equal Rights Comes to the Ballot Box -- A Fragile Illusion -- Any Way You Slice It : The Slaughter-House Cases -- Equality by Law : The Civil Rights Act of 1875 -- The Uncertainty of Language : United States v. Reese -- Rutherfraud Ascends, But Not Equal Rights -- A Slight Case of Murder : The Strange Journey of Strauder v. West Virginia. -- Tightening the Knot: Virginia v. Rives -- Strangling the Constitution : The Civil Rights Cases. -- The Curious Incident of the Chinese Laundry and Equal Protection -- Mississippi Leads the South -- The First Test : Mills v. Green. -- Peer Review : Williams v. Mississippi. -- Refining Redemption -- Forging an Attack -- The Window Slams Shut : Giles v Harris. -- Epilogue : Stolen Justice.

"Beginning in 1876, the Court systematically dismantled both the equal protection guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment, at least for African-Americans, and what seemed to be the guarantee of the right to vote in the Fifteenth. And so, of the more than 500,000 African-Americans who had registered to vote across the South, the vast majority former slaves, by 1906, less than ten percent remained. Many of those were terrified to go the polls, lest they be beaten, murdered, or have their homes burned to the ground. None of this was done in the shadows-those determined to wrest the vote from black Americans could not have been more boastful in either intent or execution. But the Court chose to ignore the obvious and wrote decisions at odds with the Constitution, preferring to instead reinforce the racial stereotypes of the day. "On Account of Race" tells the story of an American tragedy, the only occasion in United States history in which a group of citizens who had been granted the right to vote then had it stripped away. Even more unjust was that this theft of voting rights was done with full approval, even the sponsorship, of the United States Supreme Court"-- Provided by publisher.

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