APA Newsletters
Spring 2001
Volume 00, Number 2
Newsletter on Philosophy
and the Black Experience
Course Syllabi
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Race,
Gender, And The Law
Law 291
Kathryn R.L. Rand
University of North Dakota School of Law
e-mail: rand@law.und.edu
COURSE
DESCRIPTION
Although
equality is one of the founding principles of our country, social
inequality has existed in America throughout our nation's history.
Women and people of color continue to feel the effects of racism
and sexism, despite being assured equal protection of the laws.
What is equality? Why is it so difficult to achieve? What effect
does law have on social inequality?
This course inquires into the relationship between inequality in
society and inequality under the law, critically examining the role
of the law in perpetuating, prohibiting, and remedying discrimination
based on race and gender. The course also will address concrete
issues of race and gender in contemporary society. In particular,
the course will examine the efficacy of the civil rights paradigm
as an approach to confronting the legacy of social inequality in
the twenty-first century.
REQUIRED
READINGS
Leslie
Bender & Daan Braveman, Power, Privilege and Law: A Civil Rights
Reader (1995)
In the syllabus, "B&B" refers to the reader. In addition
to the required text, I occasionally will hand out supplementary
readings in class designed to contextualize a particular topic or
to suggest a problem for class discussion.
INTERNET
RESOURCES
Much
of what we cover in class will have real contemporary relevance.
I occasionally will hand out a pertinent newspaper article, but
you may wish to connect class topics to current events on your own
as well. Additionally, you may find that a particular topic piques
your interest. Toward that end, you may wish to take a look at some
of the following web sites:
United
States Commission on Civil Rights
http://www.usccr.gov/
American Civil Liberties Union's Freedom Network
http://www.aclu.org/index.html
Michigan Journal of Race & Law
http://www.law.umich.edu/pubs/journals/mjrl/
University of Minnesota Law School's Institute on Race and
Poverty
http://www.law.umn.edu/centers/race-pov.htm
U.S. Department of State Perspectives on Race Relations in
the U.S.
http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/race/
National Organization for Women
http://63.111.42.146
Harvard Women's Law Journal
http://www.law.harvard.edu/studorgs/woman_law_journal/
Columbia Journal of Gender and Law
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/jgl/
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
http://www.lambdalegal.org/
Queer Legal Resources
http://www.qrd.org/www/legal/
CLASS
FORMAT
Class
participation is expected and preparation is assumed. Because we
will meet only once each week, please do your best to attend every
class. Relevant information will be conveyed to you not only through
the assigned readings and lecture, but through class discussion,
which includes not only my questions and comments, but your classmates'
answers and questions as well. It is imperative that you come to
class prepared by completing the assigned reading and thinking about
what you've read prior to class.
COURSE
REQUIREMENTS
There
will be an in-class, modified open-book (restricted to course materials
and student-written outlines) final exam. One third of the exam
will consist of short-answer and/or multiple choice questions; the
remaining two-thirds of the exam will consist of essay questions.
COURSE
OUTLINE
I.
Introduction
Topic and Assigned Reading
A.
Introduction to the course; law, legal education, and inequality
B&B
pp. 1-20: hooks, Toward a Revolutionary Feminist Pedagogy; Carrington,
Of Law and the River; Gordon, "Of Law and the River"
and of Nihilism and Academic Freedom; Cover, Violence and the
Word; Minow, Partial Justice and Minorities
B.
Meanings of privilege and power
1.
On a personal level
B&B
pp. 21-59: Freeman, Racism, Rights and the Quest for Equality
of Opportunity; McIntosh, White Privilege and Male Privilege;
Flagg, "Was Blind, But Now I See"; Williams, The Alchemy
of Race and Rights; Kotlowitz, There Are No Children Here; Kozol,
Rachel and Her Children; Funiciello, The Poverty Industry
B.
Meanings of privilege and power
2.
On a structural level
B&B
pp. 59-123: Frye, Oppression; Young, Five Faces of Oppression;
Lawrence, The Id, the Ego and Equal Protection; Delgado &
Stefancic, Images of the Outsider in American Law and Culture;
Minow, Making All the Difference; Gotanda, Asian American Rights
and the "Miss Saigon Syndrome"; Walker, Advancing Luna
- and Ida B. Wells
"Racism,"
"sexism," and "homophobia" are provocative words
in American society. Although perhaps decried in polite circles,
it is beyond dispute that women, people of color, and gays and lesbians
experience institutional and individual discrimination. What does
it mean to be a woman or person of color in America? What does it
mean to be a woman of color in America? What role does law play
in our society in rectifying or inflicting injustice?
II.
Constructions of Race and Gender
Topic
and Assigned Reading
A.
Exclusion and the Constitution
B&B
pp. 124-41: Bell, The Real Status of Blacks Today; Marshall, Reflections
on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution Video: Eyes on the
Prize, Fighting Back (1957-1962)
B.
Race
1.
The concept of "race"
B&B
pp. 141-65: People v. Hall; United States v. Thind; St. Francis
College v. Al-Khazraji; Franceschi v. Hyatt Corp.; Omi & Winant,
Racial Formations
B.
Race
2.
Exclusion based on race
B&B
pp. 165-232: Johnson v. McIntosh, Williams, The American Indian
in Western Legal Thought; The Dred Scott Case; Plessy v. Ferguson;
Flagg, "Was Blind, But Now I See"; Korematsu v. United
States; Chang, Toward an Asian American Scholarship; United States
v. Antelope; City of Memphis v. Greene; Hernandez v. New York
Video: In the White Man's Image
C.
Gender and sexuality
1.
Concepts of gender and sexuality
B&B
pp. 232-63: Riger, Rethinking the Distinction Between Sex and
Gender; MacKinnon, On Difference and Dominance; Pharr, Homophobia
C.
Gender and sexuality
2.
Exclusion based on gender
B&B
pp. 263-309: Bradwell v. Illinois; Mississippi Univ. for Women
v. Hogan; General Electric v. Gilbert; Bray v. Alexandria Women's
Health Clinic
C.
Gender and sexuality
3.
Exclusion based on sexual orientation
B&B
pp. 309-45: Bowers v. Hardwick; Irons, The Courage of Their Convictions;
Copelon, A Crime Not Fit to Be Named; Padula v. Webster; High
Tech Gays v. Defense Industrial Sec. Clearance Office Video: Assault
on Gay America
How
has the law worked to concretize racial and gender difference? Why
is race so important? Why is gender so important? Race might be
understood as the framework by which the human population is segmented;
racialization as the assignment of certain humans to certain categories
of race; and racism as the negative valuation of certain traits
shared by humans in the same race category. What can the social
hierarchy of race teach us about the social hierarchy of gender?
What is the relationship between sexuality and gender? Is discrimination
based on sexual orientation also discrimination based on gender?
Is there a real difference between women and "pregnant persons"?
What is the relationship between race and sex?
III.
Identity
Topic
and Assigned Reading
A.
Identity
B&B
pp. 465-94: Crenshaw, Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race
and Sex; Spelman, Inessential Woman; Martinez v. Santa Clara Pueblo;
MacKinnon, Feminism Unmodified; Resnick, Dependent Sovereigns;
Harris, Race and Essentialism in Feminist Legal Theory; Hutchinson,
Identity Crisis; Williams, Dissolving the Sameness/Difference
Debate; Wicke, Postmodern Identity and the Legal Subject
B.
Patterns of power
B&B
pp. 494-547: Spelman, Inessential Woman; Cain, Feminist Jurisprudence;
Lorde, Age, Race, Class, and Sex; Jordan, Race, Gender, and Social
Class in the Thomas Sexual Harassment Hearings; Williams, Gendered
Checks and Balances; Polakow, The Other Motherhood; Grillo &
Wildman, Obscuring the Importance of Race; Harris, Race and Essentialism
in Legal Theory; Scales-Trent, Commonalities
What
is identity? How would you describe your identity? What role does
a person's, or a group's, identity play in public policy? Does recognition
of human rights intrude on the cultural identity of certain groups?
If so, what solutions are available?
IV.
Justice and Equality
Topic
and Assigned Reading
A.
Critiques and alternatives
B&B
pp. 548-65: Tushnet, The Critique of Rights; Williams, The Alchemy
of Race and Rights
B.
Lawyering for social justice
B&B
pp. 565-617: White, Subordination, Rhetorical Survival Skills,
and Sunday Shoes; Gabel & Harris, Building Power and Breaking
Images; Lehmann v. Toys 'R Us; Swenson v. Northern Crop Ins. Co.;
Twyman v. Twyman; Lawrence, If He Hollers Let Him Go
If
law can cause injustice, or if it can rectify injustice, how should
lawyers work to effect social change through the law? Do opportunities
for social change appear in seemingly ordinary legal problems?
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