Racial Justice in America

Racial Justice in America examines a volatile social issue that is always in the news, focusing on five critical areas: criminal justice, education, employment, living accommodations, and political participation.By 1451, Africans were used as slaves in the Madeiras and Canary Islands. Not until 1502 did they arrive in the New World. All told, nearly 10 million Africans—equal to the year 2000 populations of Virginia and Mississippi combined—were transplanted across the Atlantic as slaves. Despite the termination of the U.S. slave trade in l807 and emancipation after the Civil War, members of a racial couple married as late as l958 were jailed for one year for breaking Virginia's antimiscegenation law.So where are we today? This book, which provides historical perspective and a discussion of different types of discrimination, examines how systemic changes have been made and analyzes the debates that still exist.An introductory essay briefly reviews the history of Africans in America, then examines five areas of life where racial justice has been particularly relevantThe book includes coverage of significant people, places, and events, from the abolition of slavery in Vermont in 1777, to the shocking murder of Medgar Evers in 1963, to the triumphant grand slam by golfer Tiger Woods in 2000–2001