I want to see this performed! I came across Powers' play while researching the Hampton House in Miami. Apparently, the Hampton House is an old hotel iI want to see this performed! I came across Powers' play while researching the Hampton House in Miami. Apparently, the Hampton House is an old hotel in Overtown that hosted the who's whose of Black visitors to Miami during (and presumably after) segregation. While Black performers would sell out theaters in Miami Beach, they were invariably forced to retreated to Overtown for the night. And, as such, the Hampton House became the place to see and be seen - not to mention, one of the only places to legally spend the night.
I no longer remember why or how I found the Hampton House (researching civil rights related markers in Miami, I think?), but in doing so I came across photos of Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X talking over the bar. I kept digging to find more, and ended up finding this play. A work of fiction, but based in history, Powers chronicles a single evening at the Hampton, after Ali, then Clay, has just won the heavy weight title.
Cassius Clay, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown (who I previously had not heard of), come together in a meeting organized by Malcolm. Clay has just won the title and is talking to Malcolm about converting to Islam. Simultaneously, Malcolm is struggling with his place in the Nation of Islam, both wanting to practice Islam, but also having troubles with the NOI's leadership. Jim Brown is cognizant that his body is used as a tool to generate ticket sales for sports fans, but also that his power and pride are his and only his. And, Sam Cooke has already made it big, but is looking for ways to try and push the movement to the forefront of his music - as he grapples with trying to make it up not just the Black charts, but the Pop charts as well.
A quick read that I would love to see performed and offers a quick snippet of these four men's lives at a point in American history when arts, culture, politics, and the movement seemed inseparable. Or, perhaps they always are, and are only glorified in retrospect. Either way, greatly enjoyed....more
A super interesting and incredibly well written glimpse into the forced desegregation of Boston's schools in the 1907's. TolThere's just so much here.
A super interesting and incredibly well written glimpse into the forced desegregation of Boston's schools in the 1907's. Told the through eyes of three families, Common Ground, explores seemingly every corner of this "turbulent decade."
Akin to Simple Justice and We Are Not Afraid in terms of it's lengthy exposition touching on seemingly everything. Not quite as captivating as the former two, but definitely well worth having read....more
The disgusting viciousness of sheer hatred and racial violence in Mississippi is laid bare in this tell-all ofExcellently written, incredibly jarring.
The disgusting viciousness of sheer hatred and racial violence in Mississippi is laid bare in this tell-all of the events surrounding the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner during the Freedom Summer of 1964. We Are Not Afraid chronicles the primarily student driven movement that lead up to the Freedom Summer, while also focusing on the internal and long lasting violence that had been roiling in Mississippi for well over a century prior.
The brutality is gut wrenching. The movement is inspiring. And the legacy remains, unconfronted, and often blurred all to quietly into the background of a time that 'we' have 'overcome.'
However, as Cagin and Dray adeptly note, the viciousness and vileness of the men who murdered these boys, and many others, did not die with the ending of a decade or the passing of a bill. The legacy of this hatred and violence is very much alive, and each day that passes without confronting that legacy is one day further from a time of true justice.
A thoughtful and thoughtprovoking expose. Professor Ifill challenges readers to find ways to confront the ugly history of lynching and the lasting scaA thoughtful and thoughtprovoking expose. Professor Ifill challenges readers to find ways to confront the ugly history of lynching and the lasting scars that a failure to confront has left upon society and individuals.
Focusing primarily on Maryland's Eastern Shore, On the Courthouse Lawn documents in great detail a number of 20th century lynchings, many of which happened at or around local courthouses. This is not simple a show-and-tell tale though. Professor Ifill shows in great detail the great lengths that these communities went to in order to silence and ignore the atrocities that were perpetuated under their noses, by their own people, against their own people. Subtitled, Confronting the Legacy of Lynching, that is exactly what Ifill challenges readers (and residents of the Eastern Shore) to do.
Comparisons are made to South Africa's TRC and other efforts at restorative, or more accurately, transformation justice efforts. Such efforts, Ifill argues, are the only truly effective (and morally correct) ways to deal with past atrocities and their vestigial implications. In turn, the books calls for, and describes some efforts at, opening up dialogues about America's violent racial relations, in order to ensure that history does not repeat itself, and, also, that the wounds of yesterdays violence are not allowed to fester in a pool of ignorance and willful indifference.
A powerful read and a great primmer for localities looking to confront their past in order to make a safer and stronger present, and of course, future....more
Excited to find this book laying about after having watched a documentary about Bill Kunstler, "DisturWell Kunstler's apparently seen and done it all!
Excited to find this book laying about after having watched a documentary about Bill Kunstler, "Disturbing the Universe." I had heard the man's name once or twice early in my legal education, but was not fully aware of who he was, what he worked on, or the activist that he considered himself to be.
This choppy memoir reads like a primmer to the many faceted civil rights struggles percolating in American courts during the mid 20th century. Some how, Bill Kunstler seemed to have his hand in every pot. Or, at least so he claims!
The breadth of cases he's work on is truly amazing, and, despite his obvious lime-lighting, it does appear that he was successful more often than not. The book is no masterpiece of writing, nor an authoritative account of history. It is however a bit of inspiration from a rabbel rousing attorney who blurred, if not eliminated the lines between practice areas, so long as the fight was against whatever stood in the way. ...more
Almost a decade before Michele Alexander, Angela Davis asked "Are Prisons Obsolete?"
Not waiting for an answer, Professor Davis dives head first into aAlmost a decade before Michele Alexander, Angela Davis asked "Are Prisons Obsolete?"
Not waiting for an answer, Professor Davis dives head first into an extraordinarily readable case for prison abolition, over prison reform. In a pocket-sized book that packs a wallop, she beings by concretizing the direct lineage between slavery, civil rights, and the modern incarceral apparatus. Then, turning her attention to the problems of reform, she also deconstructs arguments that try to separate gender from prison politics, as if they were not inextricably linked. So too does she expose the privatized prison system and how alternative systems are much better suited to accomplish the intended goals. That is, unless the goal is the perpetuation of a racial hierarchy through the social control of a socially constructed race.
This book is so pointed, so clear, so concise. . .it is a wonder to me that it has not drawn as much attention as other critics of the prison industrial complex. Though that in and of itself is an analysis probably worth of a book!
This is unquestionably one of the best books I've ever read, and, I really cannot imagine how it could be outdone. To summarize the book wouExquisite.
This is unquestionably one of the best books I've ever read, and, I really cannot imagine how it could be outdone. To summarize the book would be unfathomable. A description of its scope would inevitably fall short. The writing and voice is so clear, yet the depth of the material is so great.
As the subtitle notes, Simple Justice is in a way, a history of the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education. But to say it is a history of the case alone risks suggesting that the book covers the legal battle alone. Nothing could be further from the truth. Or perhaps, that's exactly on point.
It seems far from the truth because Kluger dives so deep into the lives of the litigants, the arbiters, the plaintiffs, the defendants, the actors of every scene and every story. Historically, the book beings long before any anti-discrimination case is ever filed. In face, much of the first third of the book dissects and lays bare a history of racial injustice that is so key to understanding our present faults, yet is so actively and intentionally buried in textbooks, school lessons, and the 'collective narrative.'
Yet, at the same time, the stories of these individuals, from the most famous, to the most homely, are the story of the case. The history of racial injustice is the story of the case. The history of the court, is the story of the case. And the lives, loves, and laughs of every single person who has lived in this country, is the story of this seminal case.
Kluger presents it all. He dives so deep down rabbit holes that you forget whether your reading about Brown, or about the local history of some small South Carolina town. Is it an expose on the inner workings of the Supreme Court, or a political biography of famous historical actors. It is all of that and more.
The writing is truly elegant. Accessible, fascinating, compelling, and incredibly well documented. One does not feel as though they are being dragged through a timeline, nor subjected to one wild individual's view of the world. This is the story that is not told, or at least is not yelled. Here Kluger shouts it out with all his might.
An absolutely necessary book, at least, because it is incredible, at most, because it offers a history that so frequently is so poorly presented.
To a budding public defender, grabbing this collection is the equivalent of snagging a stack of collector baseball cards or signeThis is just so good.
To a budding public defender, grabbing this collection is the equivalent of snagging a stack of collector baseball cards or signed memorabilia for the avid sports fan. So too is like a crash course in validating the driving force behind your academic, professional, and personal pursuits. This is a book of powerhouses, all of whom fight with the utmost ferocity against the powers that produce the all-too-pervasive injustices, inequities, and plain unfairness.
The essayists' resumes strike both fear and longing into a young reader's heart. How can I ever do what they have done? Follow in the giant footsteps that they have lain? Fight the fights with half the fervor they have mustered? Time and time again? At the same time, there may be no more appropriate reading of shooting for the moon and falling among the stars. One cannot help but believe that after decades of battling that they too will lay steps for others to follow. After all, the strongest drive that I've found for this work has come from working with those who have already committed to do it.
The essays range from the technical to the personal, the ferocious to the reasoned. Everyone comes with their own story, and every one leaves readers with their own answers. Many do provide answers, others do not do so as directly. But, then again, as Robin notes, it might not be necessary to give answers. Those asking probably haven't though that hard about it themselves. And, those scrambling for this book likely have, and to them, to me, the answers seem obvious.
I've long known of this book and likely long avoided it presuming that I knew the entire story of Clarence Earl Gideon. He was a poor man coBeautiful!
I've long known of this book and likely long avoided it presuming that I knew the entire story of Clarence Earl Gideon. He was a poor man convicted of a crime without an attorney, whose case resulted in the Supreme Court decision expanding the right to counsel that we presume is part and parcel of our criminal legal system. But that is only a small piece of the full story.
Anthony Lewis brings Gideon to life, both the case and the person. The book beautifully recounts Gideon's tale, bringing the human element to the foreground. Behind each case, each law, each decision are those whose lives have been and will be effected. This easily overlooked axiom is not lost on Lewis.
Just as Gideon himself is brought to life, so too is the Supreme Court as Lewis traces the justices personal histories and views leading to their individual and collective decisions. The institution is described in fascinating detail in way where there to the human element is key.
This is a fantastic read regardless of one's interest in the law or right to counsel. An excellently crafted and presented story!...more