I've started reading one of the audiobooks in my collection this week, listening to it in my car! It's pretty cool to have a CD player in my car. They've sure come a long way since the old days when the CD players were affected by the motion of the car!
Anyway, the book is Root and Branch: Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and the Struggle to End Segregation, by Rawn James Jr. It is a history of the landmark civil rights Supreme Court decision known as Brown v. Board of Education and the many events that led up to it. It is in part a biography of the two men named in the title. So far, it's fascinating stuff!
As with many books of African American history, it's also painful and disturbing to read. The author doesn't pull any punches about the horrors of the early 20th century when blacks were frequently subject to or under threat of torture, murder, terrorism, and extreme injustices. The efforts of Marshall and Houston, as well as many others who sacrificed to help end segregation and its evils, are shown to be heroic in the face of many formidable obstacles.
Though I already knew some things about this era from my previous studies, I am learning a great deal more about this complex campaign. One of the things that never fails to amaze me about the civil rights struggle is how much people with the courage to take enormous risks were able to accomplish--daring to do the unthinkable was often rewarded with success! For instance, when Charles Houston took over as Dean of Washington D.C.'s Howard University Law School, he decided to remake the entire program so that it could acquire accreditation (it did) and thereby be taken seriously by the nation. This was crucial, he believed, in order for the graduates of Howard's Law School to be taken seriously and get work as lawyers so they could help those who were hurt by Jim Crow laws and the many injustices endured by black people in America. The ultimate goal for Houston was to dismantle segregation forever, a goal that could only be achieved, he believed, by changing the laws that supported the unjust system.
One thing I learned early in the book was that Woodrow Wilson was instrumental in reestablishing segregation in Washington DC and was a avid supporter of it during his administration. It's hard to believe so many people thought the apartheid system we had in this country (and still do to a certain extent) was a good thing that should continue, especially given the evils it produced. Also eye-opening was the detailed account of how very un-equal schools were back in the early 20th century, information that was gleaned from a fact-finding trip taken by Houston and Thurgood Marshall on behalf of the NAACP in preparation for the fight they would undertake and eventually win on May 17, 1954.
Anyway, I'm enjoying this book immensely and already believe it is worth reading by anyone who wants to know about America's history.
Anyway, the book is Root and Branch: Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and the Struggle to End Segregation, by Rawn James Jr. It is a history of the landmark civil rights Supreme Court decision known as Brown v. Board of Education and the many events that led up to it. It is in part a biography of the two men named in the title. So far, it's fascinating stuff!
As with many books of African American history, it's also painful and disturbing to read. The author doesn't pull any punches about the horrors of the early 20th century when blacks were frequently subject to or under threat of torture, murder, terrorism, and extreme injustices. The efforts of Marshall and Houston, as well as many others who sacrificed to help end segregation and its evils, are shown to be heroic in the face of many formidable obstacles.
Though I already knew some things about this era from my previous studies, I am learning a great deal more about this complex campaign. One of the things that never fails to amaze me about the civil rights struggle is how much people with the courage to take enormous risks were able to accomplish--daring to do the unthinkable was often rewarded with success! For instance, when Charles Houston took over as Dean of Washington D.C.'s Howard University Law School, he decided to remake the entire program so that it could acquire accreditation (it did) and thereby be taken seriously by the nation. This was crucial, he believed, in order for the graduates of Howard's Law School to be taken seriously and get work as lawyers so they could help those who were hurt by Jim Crow laws and the many injustices endured by black people in America. The ultimate goal for Houston was to dismantle segregation forever, a goal that could only be achieved, he believed, by changing the laws that supported the unjust system.
One thing I learned early in the book was that Woodrow Wilson was instrumental in reestablishing segregation in Washington DC and was a avid supporter of it during his administration. It's hard to believe so many people thought the apartheid system we had in this country (and still do to a certain extent) was a good thing that should continue, especially given the evils it produced. Also eye-opening was the detailed account of how very un-equal schools were back in the early 20th century, information that was gleaned from a fact-finding trip taken by Houston and Thurgood Marshall on behalf of the NAACP in preparation for the fight they would undertake and eventually win on May 17, 1954.
Anyway, I'm enjoying this book immensely and already believe it is worth reading by anyone who wants to know about America's history.
