The Constitution and Race

This volume examines the manner in which constitutional jurisprudence concerning race has prioritized, developed, and remained unsatisfactory in its response to racial equality and civil rights issues from the time of the Constitutional Convention to the present day. Discussed and examined are the issues of slavery, civil rights, voting rights, segregation and fairness in education, housing, law enforcement. Donald E. Lively gives an analysis of the Supreme Court’s response to society’s ambiguities, concerns, and conscience in the matters of race. The winning of rights has been a struggle and is far from over as the resistance to affirmative action in the present environment demonstrates. The work is a review and analysis of America’s constitutional and judicial history in matters of race. The nation’s enduring ambivalence and the price it pays in less than consistent constitutional interpretations on racial questions is both enlightening and disturbing. The questions, of course, are at the heart of a democracy and involve personhood, citizenship, liberty, and equality.
The Constitution and Race should be valuable to political scientists, historians, sociologists, lawyers and students.