Colorblind Injustice: Minority Voting Rights and the Undoing of the Second Reconstruction

by J. Morgan Kousser

Overview

Challenging recent trends both in historical scholarship and in Supreme Court decisions on civil rights, J. Morgan Kousser criticizes the Court's "postmodern equal protection" and demonstrates that legislative and judicial history still matter for public policy.
Offering an original interpretation of the failure of the First Reconstruction (after the Civil War) by comparing it with the relative success of the Second (after World War II), Kousser argues that institutions and institutional rules—not customs, ideas, attitudes, culture, or individual behavior—have been the primary forces shaping American race relations throughout the country's history. Using detailed case studies of redistricting decisions and the tailoring of electoral laws from Los Angeles to the Deep South, he documents how such rules were designed to discriminate against African Americans and Latinos.
Kousser contends that far from being colorblind, Shaw v. Reno (1993) and subsequent "racial gerrymandering" decisions of the Supreme Court are intensely color-conscious. Far from being conservative, he argues, the five majority justices and their academic supporters are unreconstructed radicals who twist history and ignore current realities. A more balanced view of that history, he insists, dictates a reversal of Shaw and a return to the promise of both Reconstructions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807847381
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	01/25/1999
Edition description:	1
Pages:	608
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.34(d)
Lexile:	1610L (what's this?)

About the Author

J. Morgan Kousser is professor of history and social science at the California Institute of Technology and author of The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South, 1880-1910. He has served as an expert witness in nineteen federal voting rights cases.

Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction: Institutions and the Struggle for Equality
1. The Voting Rights Act and the Two Reconstructions
2. Real Racial Gerrymandering—Lessons from L.A.
3. Changing the Rules to Preserve White Supremacy in Memphis
4. Controlling the "Bloc Vote" in Georgia
5. A Century of Electoral Discrimination in North Carolina
6. Traditional Districting Principles, Texas-style
7. Intent and Effect in Law and History
8. Shaw and Postmodern Equal Protection
9. History and Equality
Notes
Bibliography

Figures
1.1. Number of Southern Black Legislators, 1868-1900 and 1960-1992
1.2. Racial Gerrymandering in South Carolina: Congressional District Boundaries in 1883 Compared to 1875
1.3. Racial Gerrymandering in Mississippi: Congressional District Boundaries in 1877 and 1883 Compared to 1873
1.4. Percentage of New Members in Congress, 1866-1900 and 1958-1992: Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio Delegations
1.5. Members' Length of Service in Congress, 1865-1903 and 1957-1993: Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio Delegations
1.6. Margins of Victory in Congressional Elections, 1864-1900 and 1956-1992: Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio
1.7. Volatility in Congressional Elections, 1864-1900 and 1956-1992: Republican Votes vs. Republican Seats Won in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio
1.8. Party Balance in Congress in Election Years, 1864-1900 and 1956-1992
1.9. Volatility in Presidential Elections, 1868-1900 and 1956-1988: All States
2.1. The Third District and the Hispanic Population Grew in Opposite Directions, 1958-1981
2.2. The Third District's Trek West and North, 1958-1971
2.3. Two Boundary Shifts in 1965 Preserved Anglo Supremacy in the Third District
2.4. Hypothetical and Actual 1971 Redistricting
2.5. An Attempt to Turn a Legal Defeat into a Partisan Gerrymander
4.1. Percentage of Eligible Blacks Registered to Vote in Georgia, 1940-1969
5.1. Did White Faces Represent Black Interests in North Carolina?
8.1. Two Congressional Districts in Texas, 1992

Tables
1.1. Republican Share of Vote in Presidential Elections Following Violent Racial Incidents, Selected Southern Counties, 1866-1876
1.2. Partisan Lineups in House and Senate Votes on Civil Rights Laws, 1866-1890
1.3. Partisan Lineups in House and Senate Votes on Civil Rights Laws, 1957-1982
2.1. Every Redistricting from 1959 through 1981 "Whitened" the Third District
3.1. Voter Registration and Turnout in Memphis and Shelby Counties, Tennessee, 1885-1991
4.1. Did Georgia House Members Favor the Majority-Vote Requirement for Racial Reasons? Ordered Probit Analysis of House Vote on H.B. 117
5.1. Partisan Effects of Redistricting Plans Proposed in 1991 and 1992
5.2. Differences in Attitudes by Race in North Carolina, 1993
7.1. Laundry License Approval and Race of Ownership in San Francisco, 1880s
7.2. Percentage of Massachusetts Residents Appointed to State Jobs, 1963-1973, Who Were Veterans, by Gender

What People are Saying About This

Vernon Burton

[Kousser] challenges both the 'colorblind' school of academics and the 'conservative' majority on the Supreme Court, which he demonstrates is really quite radical. . . . [This book] will change the way historians think about American race relations and public policy.

From the Publisher

Engaging, provocative, and insightful.—Michigan Law Review



Kousser has written a very important book about a crucial public issue and made a powerful case for the significance and reliability of history in the public sphere. . . . Historians, lawyers, legislators, and activists will have to read his work with close and respectful attention.—North Carolina Historical Review



[A] thoroughly researched and well-argued book. . . . This is a book that is valuable for attorneys, judges, policymakers, and academics in helping to understand the nation's tortuous path toward racial justice.—Law and History Review



There is much to like about this book. . . . Kousser skillfully develops the data to underscore his argument. Readers will not find the history of voting rights and gerrymandering told any more effectively, and there is great stuff in here for classroom use. . . . This is a fine book for many reasons, not the least because it addresses political issues that have fundamentally abridged the democratic process in this country. One should not ignore this important history, nor can one ignore Kousser's challenge to our profession.—Journal of American History



Kousser presents his case, and his case studies, persuasively. Like any good historian, he is attentive to nuance and complexity, and when he concludes that the evidence lies conclusively on one side, his judgment carries real weight.—American Historical Review



A thoroughly researched, exhaustively documented, and, ultimately, very convincing indictment of the role of the Supreme Court in the battle over equal voting rights. . . . [Kousser's] cogent analysis of constitutional law and voting rights policy speaks to a number of disciplines.—Law and Politics Review



Colorblind Injustice is an indispensable guide to the uses of discrimination and fraud against racial and ethnic minorities in American politics, especially since the Second Reconstruction.—C. Vann Woodward, Yale University



Colorblind Injustice should be required reading for anyone—scholar, lawyer, or judge—working in the field of voting rights. It combines meticulous historical case studies of race and the political system with penetrating analysis of contemporary legal doctrine regarding vote dilution and race-conscious redistricting. Colorblind Injustice is an absolute model of what interdisciplinary scholarship should be: informative, thought-provoking, and open-minded.—Pamela S. Karlan, Stanford University Law School



Colorblind Injustice connects meticulous details of politics with the largest, most significant themes in the nation's history. Fulfilling the role of the public intellectual to speak truth to power, Kousser presents original explanations and observations on topics ranging from the First Reconstruction to the most recent Supreme Court cases on voting rights. He challenges both the 'colorblind' school of academics and the 'conservative' majority on the Supreme Court, which he demonstrates is really quite radical. This stunning achievement of scholarship is as deeply researched as it is deeply felt and will change the way historians think about American race relations and public policy.—Vernon Burton, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

C. Vann Woodward

An indispensable guide to the uses of discrimination and fraud against racial and ethnic minorities in American politics.

Editorial Reviews

ÝA¨ thoroughly researched and well-argued book.

"Law and History Review"

ÝA¨ very convincing indictment of the role of the Supreme Court in the battle over equal voting rights.

"Law and Politics Review

Engaging, provocative, and insightful.

"Michigan Law Review"

Historians, lawyers, legislators, and activists will have to read his work with close and respectful attention.

"North Carolina Historical Review"

One should not ignore this important history, nor can one ignore Kousser's challenge to our profession.

"Journal of American History"

"Engaging, provocative, and insightful.

"Michigan Law Review""

"Historians, lawyers, legislators, and activists will have to read his work with close and respectful attention.

"North Carolina Historical Review""

"One should not ignore this important history, nor can one ignore Kousser's challenge to our profession.

"Journal of American History""

[A] thoroughly researched and well-argued book.

"Law and History Review"

[A] very convincing indictment of the role of the Supreme Court in the battle over equal voting rights.

"Law and Politics Review

From the Publisher

Race must be taken into account to avoid continuing the racially discriminatory policymaking of the past. Not surprisingly, because Kousser is a historian, this book will likely resonate more with historians; however, his cogent analysis of constitutional law and voting rights policy speak to a number of disciplines.
— Law and Politics Book Review

Susan Gluck Mezey