Simple Justice by Richard Kluger is a very informational book that explains an important part of American history. I enjoyed reading this book because it made me look at everything African American people went through for equality in a different light. When learning about the Brown v. Board of Education case in school, I never really took the time to realize all the great things that this case did for American history . I also did not realize how much this one case changed. The 1954 decision by the Supreme Court of the United States on this case brought centuries of legal segregation in this country to an end and also opened the way for the broad civil rights upheavals of the 1960s.
This book made me appreciate people like Charles Houston, Reverend J.A. DeLaine and Thurgood Marshall who all did amazing monumental things to help segregation come to an end. I also believe that if African American’s coming up in today’s society read more educational books on what their ancestors had to go through for everything they have today, they would have a greater appreciation and understanding. I feel that books like this one reminds African Americans of everything others before them went through and can teach them why its important to be grateful and to take every opportunity given to them.
American Made is a classic of legal history. It is definitely the necessary starting point for understanding the story behind Brown v. Board of Education. It is a fascinating book of the account, to date, of the struggle for black equality in America. Richard Kluger takes a very good approach to writing this book by using a very extraordinary research effort and original interviews with surviving participants. His approach kept my attention allowing me to get a good read while being able to learn valuable information on my country’s past. He also provides a lot of information on views of the human and legal drama years before and the cumulative assaults on the white power structure that defended segregation, which I feel is important because it lets us know the events that led to this case. I also love how he spends a lot of time going over the step - by - step process of an establishment of a team of inspired black lawyers that could successfully challenge the law. I love how he talks about this because I want to be a lawyer some day as well and to see how these inspired black lawyers fought for what they thought was right is inspiring and I hope to do the same thing one day as well.
To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the decision , I love how Kluger has reissued Simple Justice with an updated epilogue . It offers great insight into what someone who has been so influential in telling the story of the legal battle against school segregation thinks about the last thirty years of American race relations. In this new edition , Kluger notes that frustration over the failures of desegregation has led to a “ widely prevalent mood of disappointment “ among blacks (p.751) A sense of gloom and, at times , anger pervades through the pages of the epilogue but this is just Kluger giving a piece of contemporary social criticism . At the end of the day, I agree with a lot of the things he touches upon in the epilogue . This book I feel has a very inspirational message and gives an informational account of an important piece of American History.
