Revolution by Law

Description

The landmark Brown v. Board of Education case was the start of a long period of desegregation, but Brown did not give a roadmap for how to achieve this lofty goal—it only provided the destination. In the years that followed, the path toward the fulfillment of this vision for school integration was worked out in the courts through the efforts of the NAACP Legal Defense organization and the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice. One of the major cases on this path was Lee v. Macon County Board of Education (1967).
Revolution by Law traces the growth of Lee v. Macon County from a case to desegregate a single school district in rural Alabama to a decision that paved the way for ending state-imposed racial segregation of the schools in the Deep South. Author Brian Landsberg began his career as a young attorney working for the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ in 1964, the year after the lawsuit that would lead to the Lee decision was filed.
As someone personally involved in the legal struggle for civil rights, Landsberg writes with first-hand knowledge of the case. His carefully researched study of this important case argues that private plaintiffs, the executive branch, the federal courts, and eventually Congress each played important roles in transforming the South from the most segregated to the least segregated region of the United States. The Lee case played a central role in dismantling Alabama’s official racial caste system, and the decision became the model both for other statewide school desegregation cases and for cases challenging conditions in prisons and institutions for mentally ill people. Revolution by Law gives readers a deep understanding of the methods used by the federal government to desegregate the schools of the Deep South. Preface
Introduction: Tuskegee, Alabama, September 9, 1963
1. The Ratchet Principle:Truman Sets Federal Civil Rights Policy for His Successors in Office
2. Macon County and Alabama’s Racial Caste System
3. The School Desegregation Case Begins
4. New Year, New Schools, New Law
5. The Case Goes Statewide
6. Aftermath: Response to the Statewide Decree
7. “Watch What We Do”
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliographic Essay
Index “Landsberg gives us a fascinating blow-by-blow account of one of the nation’s key school desegregation cases—Lee v. Macon County Board of Education, the case that ended de jure school segregation in Alabama. Expertly marshalling the primary sources, the book is essential reading for anyone interested in the nitty-gritty of school desegregation, the Justice Department and its civil rights activities, or southern civil rights history.”—Margo Schlanger, Wade H. and Dores M. McCree Collegiate Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School

“In Revolution by Law, Brian K. Landsberg offers a comprehensive look at Lee v. Macon County Board of Education, a pivotal case in the fight to implement the Brown decision in the Deep South. Landsberg’s careful analysis reminds us of the significant role played by the federal courts and the US Department of Justice during the 1960s in dismantling southern racial apartheid.”—Charles Bolton, professor of history, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

“Revolution by Law represents an important addition to the historiography of school desegregation, offering an insider’s account of the federal government’s efforts to bring about school desegregation in Alabama and the Deep South. In addition to presenting a well-researched and well-written account of Lee v. Macon County Board of Education and its impact on the implementation of Brown v. Board of Education, Revolution by Law shows how school desegregation law affected other fields of jurisprudence and how the legal strategies employed in Lee may serve as a model for case law in the twenty-first century. It is a must-read for those interested in school desegregation and civil rights history.”—Brian J. Daugherity, author of Keep On Keeping On: The NAACP and the Implementation of Brown v. Board of Education in Virginia, and coeditor of With All Deliberate Speed: Implementing Brown v. Board of Education

“The Lee v. Macon County Board of Education school desegregation case has long deserved a book-length treatment, and Brian Landsberg gives us that as both dispassionate scholar and historical actor. As a young attorney in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, he litigated the case that became the model for statewide relief throughout the South. In this book, he demonstrates the ability of federal courts to effect systemic change, reminding us that, even though Brown and subsequent litigation did not bring about universal equal educational opportunity, what the plaintiffs and attorneys in those cases were able to achieve was nonetheless revolutionary.”—Joseph Bagley, assistant professor, Perimeter College, Georgia State University

Additional information