CBA Record January-February 2025

CIVIL RIGHTS QUEEN: CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY AND THE STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY by Tomiko Brown-Nagin Civil Rights Queen is a compelling biography of Constance Baker Motley, a trailblazing lawyer and the first Black woman to serve as a federal judge. Motley argued landmark cases, including Brown v. Board of Education, and defended Martin Luther King Jr., yet her contributions have often been overlooked. This book sheds light on her pivotal role in advancing racial and gender equality, making it essential for those interested in legal history and civil rights. Suggested by Peter C. McNamara, Union of Operating Engineers, Local 399; CBA Board of Managers

JAMES by Percival Everett

Percival Everett accomplishes the seemingly impossible by taking an American literary classic, Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn , and creating a masterpiece in its own right by reimagining Twain’s story from the perspective of Jim, Huck Finn’s companion escaping slavery. Through James’s eyes, the journey is not an adventure but deadly serious. The language is described by the New York Times as “incandescent,” reflecting James's ability to code-switch, adapting his speech through what he calls his “slave filter” to make himself sound gullible to pacify or fool the White people around him and his unfiltered thoughts, which are often heartbreakingly eloquent.

Suggested by Anne Ellis, Council of State Governments Justice Center; Associate Editor, CBA Record; with thanks to Justice Michael B. Hyman for the recommendation

ADDITIONAL READING:

THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS by Rebecca Skloot

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor, Black tobacco farmer whose cells, taken without her knowledge in 1951, became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and more. Henrietta’s cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can’t afford health insurance. This New York Times bestseller tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew.

JOHN LEWIS: A LIFE by David Greenberg

This is an authoritative compilation of facts and circumstances of the life of a 20th century civil rights leader. The biography spans more than 40 years of events and experiences that shaped John Lewis. The author draws on interviews with Lewis and approximately 275 others who knew him at various stages of his life, as well as never-before-used FBI files and documents. Lest generations forget the truth, this book is a must-read.

THE COLOR OF LAW: A FORGOTTEN HISTORY OF HOW OUR GOVERNMENT SEGREGATED AMERICA by Richard Rothstein This book examines the systematic and deliberate way American state and local governments imposed racial segrega tion on metropolitan areas across the country. A multiple literary award winner, The Color of Law exposes how federal, state, and local governments fostered and reinforced racial and ethnic segregation. Rothstein’s research reveals how de facto segregation arising from private prejudice or the unintended consequences of economic forces was codified in law. He covers how the government systematically imposed residential segregation in myriad ways: with racial zoning; with public housing that purposefully segregated previously mixed communities; with subsidies for builders to create Whites-only suburbs; with tax exemptions for institutions that enforced segregation; and with support for violent resistance to African Americans in White neighborhoods. This study lays bare the facts and circumstances that reset our understanding of twentieth-century urban history.

CBA RECORD 37

Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online