In the Matter of Color: Race and the American Legal Process: The Colonial Period

In this midst of heated, often poisonous, arguments about affirmative action, school busing, and race-based political redistricting, A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. provides a welcome voice of reason. The sequel to his acclaimed In the Matter of Color, published in 1978, Shades of Freedom is a history of American racial law from the 17th century to the present. This long and often dark chronology is examined with precision, providing Higginbotham ample space to air his own view, that America has come far but still has far to go. Higginbotham, the former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court Appeals for the Third Circuit and the winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, is unabashedly liberal, especially in wholeheartedly supporting the concept of political districts designed to create black majorities. His analyses, particularly of major decisions such as the 1857 Dred Scott case, are compelling and elegant. And his indignation is palpable.