Summary
Title: Brown v Board of Education: Caste, Culture, and the Constitution
Author: Robert J. Cottrol, Raymond T. Diamond, Leland B. Ware
Publisher: University of Kansas Press
ISBN: 0700612890
Pro:
• Offers an excellent introduction to what sort of discrimination existed, why, and how it affected people
• Explains the significance of the case - not just in terms of race, but also judicial activism
• Provides important information on a very important court case on its 50th anniverary
Con:
• Many readers might prefer more information about the case and less history of discrimination
Description:
• Introduction to Brown v. Board of Education, the case that ended school segregation in America
• Describes the history of white supremacy and caste discrimination in America
• Explains why this is one of the most important Supreme Court cases in American history
Book Review
Why did Brown v. Board of Education cause a fundamental change in American society? That's the topic of Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture, and the Constitution, by Cottrol, Diamond, and Ware. These authors explore American culture before, during, and after the decision was handed down.
It can't be over-emphasized just how atrocious conditions could be for blacks in America before the revolution inaugurated by the Brown decisions. The authors use the term "caste" in the title deliberately. Technically America didn't have a "real" caste system in the religious sense, but it was very much an attempt to impose a practical caste system on America and a significant portion of the book explores just how this system developed from colonial times, through the Civil War, and down to the 20th century.
- "The decision posed a direct challenge to the values of millions of ordinary white Americans, to their beliefs, their deeply rooted prejudices, their views concerning how proper lives should be lived, and of course the proper place of blacks and whites in America. ... In a way not seen since Reconstruction, the core of white southern culture was being challenged by the federal government. ... That the Court would make a pronouncement on an issue that would upset a deeply rooted cultural pattern, not to mention the strong prejudices of millions of white Americans, provoked a reaction that was immediate and intense, indeed at times ferocious."
It is arguable that the authors may spend too long discussing this issue; but while there may be some justification in this criticism, I think that there are good reasons for the authors' choice. Today may not be a paradise in terms of racial harmony, but the fact of the matter is most overt racial prejudice and discrimination have largely ended in America.
People who have grown up and lived most of their lives in the 50 years since Brown cannot imagine what it was like for blacks and whites during the age of segregation. The importance of Brown is tied to the preceding four hundred years or so during which white supremacy was taken as a given and enforced through custom and law. Arguably the authors could have done more to communicate this to readers, but difficult choices do have to be made.
The Brown decisions didn't just begin altering people's perceptions of race and segregation - they also altered perceptions of the role of the courts. Many had argued that segregation was "a deeply rooted part of culture of the day that could not be eradicated by legal change" and, hence, something that should be addressed by democratically elected legislators rather than appointed justices. Sound familiar?
- "Brown was initially criticized by many as a severe kind of judicial overreaching, the forging of a constitutional mandate not originally intended by the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment. That view still exists in some quarters. But for many, Brown has become exhibit A in the case for a more activist judiciary, an argument that the courts, because of their relative insulation from political pressures, might in fact be better vehicles to resolve knotty social problems."
After Brown, the Supreme Court found itself much more willing to enter into political disputes and render decisions on hot topics being debated in the legislatures. The Court was also much more willing to apply various aspects of the Bill of Rights to state and local governments through a process known as "incorporation." It was done piecemeal instead of all at once and the process still isn't completed, but the time when federal authority was far from the lives of ordinary Americans was very much at an end.
