Michelle D. Deardorff is the Adolph S. Ochs Professor of Government at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The co-author of a two-volume constitutional law text and a popular American government text, her career includes decades at a historic Black university, a private college, and a regional public institution. She has served as a Fulbright Senior Specialist, on the governing council of the American Political Science Association, and as co-chair of the APSA Presidential Taskforce on Rethinking Political Science Education. From 1997 to 2017 she was part of the coalition which established the Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy, to engage and educate all students and teachers seeking to understand democracy and civil rights in the United States.

• Preface; Introduction: the legal construction and development of race; 1. Race, the constitution, and slavery; 2. Race. citizenship, and sovereignty; 3. Race and segregation; 4. Race and state obligation; 5. Race, culture, and identity; 6. Race and constructing democracy'; 7. Race and the limits of the law; Conclusion: what do we owe democracy?; References; Index.

'This text is an outstanding resource for teaching race and law in the United States. Designed both to illustrate thematic and group-based concerns and to promote historical understanding, the book covers the breadth of the American experience with race under the law. It provides thoughtfully edited primary sources, including cases, but also legislation, legal commentary, and key movement voices. The explanatory materials provide excellent context for the documents, including outlining the active efforts by people of color and advocacy organizations to promote change. Highly realistic about the potential and limits of law as a tool for reform, this text is an ideal choice for instructors who want to inspire their students to examine legal questions from a richly historical, political, and critical perspective.' Julie Novkov, University at Albany, SUNY

Michelle D. Deardorff is the Adolph S. Ochs Professor of Government at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The co-author of a two-volume constitutional law text and a popular American government text, her career includes decades at a historic Black university, a private college, and a regional public institution. She has served as a Fulbright Senior Specialist, on the governing council of the American Political Science Association, and as co-chair of the APSA Presidential Taskforce on Rethinking Political Science Education. From 1997 to 2017 she was part of the coalition which established the Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy, to engage and educate all students and teachers seeking to understand democracy and civil rights in the United States.

• Preface; Introduction: the legal construction and development of race; 1. Race, the constitution, and slavery; 2. Race. citizenship, and sovereignty; 3. Race and segregation; 4. Race and state obligation; 5. Race, culture, and identity; 6. Race and constructing democracy'; 7. Race and the limits of the law; Conclusion: what do we owe democracy?; References; Index.

'This text is an outstanding resource for teaching race and law in the United States. Designed both to illustrate thematic and group-based concerns and to promote historical understanding, the book covers the breadth of the American experience with race under the law. It provides thoughtfully edited primary sources, including cases, but also legislation, legal commentary, and key movement voices. The explanatory materials provide excellent context for the documents, including outlining the active efforts by people of color and advocacy organizations to promote change. Highly realistic about the potential and limits of law as a tool for reform, this text is an ideal choice for instructors who want to inspire their students to examine legal questions from a richly historical, political, and critical perspective.' Julie Novkov, University at Albany, SUNY

Michelle D. Deardorff is the Adolph S. Ochs Professor of Government at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The co-author of a two-volume constitutional law text and a popular American government text, her career includes decades at a historic Black university, a private college, and a regional public institution. She has served as a Fulbright Senior Specialist, on the governing council of the American Political Science Association, and as co-chair of the APSA Presidential Taskforce on Rethinking Political Science Education. From 1997 to 2017 she was part of the coalition which established the Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy, to engage and educate all students and teachers seeking to understand democracy and civil rights in the United States.

• Preface; Introduction: the legal construction and development of race; 1. Race, the constitution, and slavery; 2. Race. citizenship, and sovereignty; 3. Race and segregation; 4. Race and state obligation; 5. Race, culture, and identity; 6. Race and constructing democracy'; 7. Race and the limits of the law; Conclusion: what do we owe democracy?; References; Index.

'This text is an outstanding resource for teaching race and law in the United States. Designed both to illustrate thematic and group-based concerns and to promote historical understanding, the book covers the breadth of the American experience with race under the law. It provides thoughtfully edited primary sources, including cases, but also legislation, legal commentary, and key movement voices. The explanatory materials provide excellent context for the documents, including outlining the active efforts by people of color and advocacy organizations to promote change. Highly realistic about the potential and limits of law as a tool for reform, this text is an ideal choice for instructors who want to inspire their students to examine legal questions from a richly historical, political, and critical perspective.' Julie Novkov, University at Albany, SUNY