Justice

The Irish were slaves too; slaves had it better than factory workvers; black people fought for the Confederacy; and so on.

A law designed to repair flaws in the fabric of American justice also created new ones.

In the late 19th century, statesmen feared that Catholics were something less than civilized (and less than white).

Politicians are suddenly eager to disown failed policies on American prisons, but they have failed to reckon with the history.

He was the Chinese-American cook who became the father of ‘birthright citizenship.’

An excerpt from a discussion between Malcolm X and Robert Penn Warren on guilt and innocence.

Inclusion and humanitarianism used to be part of the immigration policy of the United States.

Roberts rose from Rehnquist’s clerk to Chief Justice, leading efforts to weaken the Voting Rights Act and redefine voting protections.

SWAT teams were created in the 1960s to combat violent events. Since then, the specialized teams have morphed into something very different.

A botched voter purge prevented thousands from voting—and empowered a new generation of voting-rights critics.

Would the Founders have protected people we execute now?

It is only recently that domestic abuse was identified as a serious, public social problem.

The Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage by framing it as a historical evolution of liberty, dignity, and equality under the Constitution.

"You're taking over our country" echoes long-held narratives and has renewed prominence in conservative discourse.

Race is a social fiction imposed by the powerful on those they wish to control.

In a span of less than 12 hours a German college professor set off a bomb in the U.S. Capitol & assaulted J.P. Morgan Jr. at his home on Long Island.

The internecine conflict and the institution of slavery could not and did not end neatly at Appomattox or on Galveston Island.

Examining histories of mass incarceration and views on teaching histories of the carceral state.

It has been 90 years since Ossian Sweet tried to move into his new home; since police stood by and did nothing as a mob threw rocks.

It’s in vogue to call the new movement against police violence "leaderless." But as Ella Baker taught us, it's more correct to say that it has many leaders.

Griswold v. Connecticut became about privacy; what if it had been about equality?

Philadelphia native Gene Demby was 4 years old when city police dropped a bomb on a house of black activists in his hometown.

One man’s archive of a vanished culture.

The short life and long legacy of the 19th-century reformer William Apess.

The right to vote is under the greatest threat since the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

In 1919, white Americans visited awful violence on black Americans. So black Americans decided to fight back.

How a post-Civil War massacre impacted racial justice in America.

Racism, segregation and inequality persist in this civil-rights battleground.

When the Supreme Court willfully misreads the Constitution, FDR’s plan doesn’t seem so bad.

Despite Freedom of Information requests throughout the years, New York still will not release records to the public.