Category Archives: Uncategorized

I didn’t expect to find the specter of the mixed-race person making an appearance in Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision that upheld Michigan’s ban on affirmative action. But there it was. In Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the … Continue reading →

When talking diversity at colleges and universities, the numbers count. Still, when it comes to mixed-race students, too often they do not count at all. This is a missed opportunity. University leaders rely upon statistics for a measure of where … Continue reading →

My latest contribution to Al Brophy’s Faculty Lounge legal history trivia. I visited this place in connection with my family memoir. Today it is surrounded by factories and warehouses, but in the nineteenth century it was at the heart of the Reconstruction-era … Continue reading →

Over at Claire Potter’s Tenured Radical blog, we had an interesting exchange about women in the history of Reconstruction. Potter chided Eric Foner for eliding the history of women in his review of Douglas R. Egerton’s new Wars of Reconstruction. Potter then … Continue reading →

When the census listed Negro as a race option in 2010, a controversy erupted. My students at the University of Michigan were eager to denounce the term’s use: “Negro? It has to go!” To their ears, “Negro” was derogatory, too close in … Continue reading →

My winter 2010 seminar began the way I start every class. I made introductory remarks about themes and requirements for my course on the history of race, law and marriage in the United States. “Now,” I prompted, “let’s go around. … Continue reading →

Thanks to Al Brophy for blogging about my recent articles over at the Faculty Lounge blog. What better way to show my appreciation than to offer up a contribution to Al’s courthouse trivia series. This site awkwardly juxtaposes the history … Continue reading →

I love Al Brophy’s “courthouse trivia” features at the Faculty Lounge blog. This week, Al invited me to post a quiz of my own. I visited this courthouse in spring 2013, and am still thinking about its juxtaposition of two monuments: … Continue reading →

“Through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall.” With this phrase, Barack Obama rewrote our national narrative of freedom and equality. That story, the president urged, runs from mid-nineteenth century struggles for the rights of women, into the modern civil rights … Continue reading →