Beyond Backlash

In this essay I argue for a reconsideration of the role of conservatives and conservative legal claims in the legal history of the civil rights movement. I do this through summaries of three interrelated topics, each of which I believe merit more careful scholarly attention. First, I consider the legal arguments and litigation tactics of conservatives who opposed the civil rights movement. Second, I examine underappreciated strains of conservatism within the African American community during the civil rights era. And third, I describe the ways in which certain legal claims contested during the civil rights era defy ready ideological classification. As each topic demonstrates, civil rights era conservatism should be understood as more than just blunt opposition to racial justice claims. Rather than simply the product of a triumph of “liberal” principles over “conservative” ones, the legal achievements of the civil rights movement in many instances came from their convergence. The historical reevaluation I offer suggests that the ascent of legal conservatism in the post-civil rights era should be recognized as both a reaction to and a product of the civil rights movement.

Art · Backlash · Civil rights · Conservatism · Foundation (evidence) · Movement (music) · Political science · Politics · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Engineering · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Race, History, and American Society

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