Law faculty are often race-avoidant in teaching would-be lawyers, despite the role race has played in the construction and maintenance of the legal system in the United States. When race is absent from class discussions, that silence sends the message that the law is neutral and operates equally for all, when that is plainly not the lived experience for so many in this country. When we fail to incorporate issues of race and racism as a through line in core law school courses, we impede the professional development of future lawyers, who graduate without grappling with difficult but essential questions of how the law can operate to subordinate on the basis of race (and gender, class, age, sexual orientation, gender identification, religion, and ability). Our silence about how race informs law and its application does real damage to students and can be particularly alienating for students of color.
Incorporating race into class assignments or discussions will likely lead to difficult, and even uncomfortable, conversations. As the professor, you too may be offended and offensive at times. Give yourself and your students the space to have brave and respectful discussion and ask questions that will raise awareness of bias and how it operates in the law.
This non-exhaustive list of resources is intended for law faculty teaching core (1L) courses, who want to include assignments, readings, and discussion touching on issues of race and the law. As such, the resource list does not reflect materials touching on the full range of underrepresented and historically marginalized groups. This is a work in progress that we hope to update continually. We welcome your constructive feedback and suggestions.
This resource list is a project of the Center for Access to Justice at Georgia State University College of Law, compiled by Center Assistant Director, Darcy Meals, with support from Caambridge Horton (J.D. ’21), Leah Ritter (J.D. ’23), Todd ("T.C.") Deveau (J.D. '23), and law librarians Pam Brannon, Meg Butler, and Gerard Fowke. Special thanks to Mary Whisner and the University of Washington Research Library, Rutgers Center for Security, Race and Rights’s Annotated Bibliography on Race and Racism in Higher Education, and the Civil Procedure Professoriate for their subject-matter-specific compilations of materials like these.