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  • Obligations Impaired: Justice Jonathan Jasper Wright and the Failure of Reconstruction in South Carolina

    Part I of this article, on the historiography of South Carolina Reconstruction, explains the difficulty scholars have had in uncovering the documentary history of Reconstruction, and outlines the development of historical interpretations of Reconstruction from the Nineteenth century Redeemer-era accounts to the revisionists of the 1970's. Part II provides brief biographies of both Justice Wright and William James Whipper. Parts III and IV track the different approaches of Whipper and Wright on two vital issues of their day: (1) whether to repudiate all private debts relating to slavery; and (2) how to construct a homestead law to protect cash-poor landowners. Finally, the article concludes that if Wright had taken Whipper's more aggressive tact in his judicial opinions and political activity, the story of South Carolina Reconstruction might have evolved differently. African Americans might have retained some of their political voice as memories of Reconstruction faded into the past.

  • Vigilante Racism: The De-Americanization of Immigrant America

    Sadly, the de-Americanization process is capable of reinventing itself generation after generation. We have seen this exclusionary process aimed at those of Jewish, Asian, Mexican, Haitian, and other descent throughout the nation's history. De-Americanization is not simply xenophobia, because more than fear of foreigners is at work. This is a brand of nativism cloaked in a Euro-centric sense of America that combines hate and racial profiling. Whenever we go through a period of de-Americanization like what is currently happening to South Asians, Arabs, Muslim Americans, and people like Wen Ho Lee-a whole new generation of Americans sees that exclusion and hate is acceptable; that the definition of who is an American can be narrow; that they too have license to profile. Their license is issued when others around them engage in hate and the government chimes in with its own profiling. This is part of the sad process of unconscious and institutionalized racism that haunts our country.

  • Expert Report of Eric Foner

    Race has been a crucial line of division in American society since the settlement of the American colonies in the beginning of the 17th century. It remains so today. While the American understanding of the concept of "race" has changed over time, the history of African-Americans provides a useful template for understanding the history of race relations. The black experience has affected how other racial minorities have been treated in our history, and illuminates the ways in which America's white majority has viewed racial difference.

  • Facing History, Facing Ourselves: Eric Yamamoto and the Quest for Justice

    Review of Interracial Justice: Conflict and Reconciliation in Post-Civil Rights America by Eric Yamamoto

  • Turning the Tide in the Civil Rights Revolution: Elbert Tuttle and the Desegregation of the University of Georgia

    Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. So it was in 1960 when Elbert Tuttle became the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the federal appellate court with jurisdiction over most of the Deep South. Part of the genius of the Republic lies in the carefully calibrated structure of the federal courts of appeal. One assumption underlying the structure is that judges from a particular state might bear an allegiance to the interests of that state, which would be reflected in their opinions. Forming panels of judges from each of several states is supposed to balance those interests, resulting in a less insular rule of law-one that reflects regional, not merely local, interests.

  • Expert Report of Albert M. Camarillo

    At the request of attorneys with Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, the author has prepared this report which outlines the historical patterns and legacies of racial isolation and separation of Hispanics in American society. The research is based on archival collections, syntheses of secondary literature, and other primary sources such as U.S. government reports including Bureau of the Census population reports. Based on the author’s knowledge and research, this report outlines the historical developments that resulted in patterns of racial exclusion and isolation of Hispanics in the states and cities where they have settled since 1900. In particular, this report will discuss how residential, educational and occupational isolation of Hispanic Americans developed in the century after the first group of Hispanics-Mexican Americans-were incorporated into the United States in 1848.

  • South Africa’s Amnesty Process: A Viable Route Toward Truth and Reconciliation

    The road to democracy for South Africa was based on compromise. One of the most significant compromises made by the negotiators was the acceptance of an amnesty process culminating in the passage of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act of 1995. The Act grants full indemnity from criminal and civil prosecution to anyone affiliated with a political organization who committed an "act associated with a political objective" and who fully discloses all relevant facts. The purpose of the Act is twofold: to establish the "truth" about the apartheid past and to promote "reconciliation" among South Africans. Unfortunately, such goals are often in conflict. This Note examines the origin and nature of the Act, how it is being applied,