Race in America: The Struggle for Equality

Race in America is a multidisciplinary analysis of race and injustice by some of the nation’s foremost scholar-activists who helped shape the course of the struggle for civil rights during the recent past.  These essays provide a historical retrospective, an assessment of where we are now, and an outline of possibilities for the future.
    The major controversial issues in race relations, in the past and in the present, such as affirmative action, educational segregation, racial practices of labor unions, legal strategies for protest movements, the persistence of racism in American institutions, and the sources of resistance to change are discussed at length by major authorities in their respective fields.
    Many of the most important events in recent American history come alive in these pages as the strategies and programs, the victories and defeats of the civil rights movement are rigorously examined.  A unique aspect of the book is that the human experience of active participants in this rich history is evoked through personal and often poignant accounts, such as those of Kenneth B. Clark, who in a memorable autobiographical essay describes a long life devoted to the pursuit of racial justice, and Patricia J. Williams, who relates the contemporary struggles of African American women to the historical context of slavery and its aftermath.
    As no other book can, this collection provides the basis for the critical insights and historical perspectives that are essential for an understanding of the central issue still confronting American society:  race and racism.

Herbert Hill is professor of Afro-American studies and industrial relations at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Formerly national labor director of the NAACP, he is the author of Black Labor and the American Legal System, also published by the University of Wisconsin Press, as well as other books.  He has presented testimony before Congressional committees and frequently appears as expert witness in federal court litigation involving employment discrimination.

James E. Jones Jr. is the Nathan P. Feinsinger Professor of Labor Law and former director of the Industrial Relations Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  He was associate solicitor of labor, Division of Labor Relations and Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Labor.  He is the coauthor of Discrimination in Employment and has contributed many articles on labor law, industrial relations, and civil rights to law journals and other publications.