Crusaders In The Courts: How A Dedicated Band Of Lawyers Fought For The Civil Rights Revolution

by Jack Greenberg

A personal memoir and history of the civil rights movement traces the development of the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund

Genres: History, Law, Nonfiction

656 pages, Paperback

First published June 7, 1994

Reviews

[Maggie Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the books I’ve read this summer, this is the book I’ve talked about the most to the most people. I wasn’t even born at the start of Greenberg’s work at the LDF and only 3 when Brown v. Board of Education was decided. I do remember the whole busing issue (though not personally involved.) And after we moved to the suburbs there were no blacks in our school until one of my last years in high school. What came through the book with all its details is how little has really changed. The segregation of most large city schools is still common. I am so impressed by the ability for LDF to stay focused on what could be done and how to use the courts to force Congress to pass needed laws. Unfortunately, many of these laws have been let to expire, even though the problems haven’t gone away.