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1861 - 1877: War and Reconstruction- The Unfinished Work of Freedom (250 Years of White Supremacy Through Law)

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By Vernellia R. Randall
Vernellia R. Randall
Parent Category: Law and Justice
Category: America at 250
30 June 2026
Hits: 1101

Article Index

  • 1861 - 1877: War and Reconstruction- The Unfinished Work of Freedom (250 Years of White Supremacy Through Law)
  • I. War, Slavery, and Self-Emancipation
  • II. What Freedom Required
  • III. Reconstruction's Promise
  • IV. The Unfinished Work of Freedom
  • Series Overview
  • All Pages
Page 6 of 6

 

250 Years of White Supremacy Through Law is a six-part series examining how American law created, protected, challenged, and continues to reshape racial hierarchy from 1776 to the present.

This series begins with the Constitution and slavery, moves through the Civil War and Reconstruction, traces the legal reconstruction of racial hierarchy after Reconstruction, examines the Civil Rights era, and concludes with the twenty-first-century struggle over law, race, and power.

The central question is simple: How has American law helped create and preserve racial hierarchy, and what has happened when people tried to dismantle it?

This five-part series includes:

  • Essay 1: The Law Built the Foundation (1776–1865)
  • Essay 2: Reconstruction: America's First Attempt at Equal Citizenship (1865–1877)
  • Essay 3: Jim Crow: The Law Rebuilds Racial Hierarchy (1877–1963)
  • Essay 4: From Civil Rights to Colorblindness (1964–2024)
  • Essay 5: The Trump Era (2025–Present)

 


 Vernellia R. Randall, Professor Emerita of Law, University of Dayton School of Law. This article was drafted with the assistance of ChatGPT, an AI language model.

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Vernellia R. Randall
Founder and Editor
Professor Emerita of Law
The University of Dayton School of Law
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