The
legal struggle for civil rights throughout the Southeast and into the 1980s

In this book, twenty-three
lawyers discuss their experiences in the struggle to advance and maintain civil
rights in the United States South. While the lives of civil rights lawyers are
often unknown or forgotten, this book draws attention to the importance of lawyers
in facilitating dramatic sociopolitical changes, illustrates the
realities of working in this profession, and shows the ways in which civil
rights were--and still are--tested at every turn.

The events
documented here happened not just in the 1960s and '70s but also in the 1980s, and
this book highlights the emergence of a new generation of lawyers who continued
to advocate for racial equity and expanded into other areas of social justice
work, such as labor and gender. In addition, while the civil rights
movement is commonly identified with protests in Deep South states, many of its
activities and court challenges occurred beyond the region, and this book
widens the geographic lens to include narratives from frontline lawyers in
Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia.

Many of the
struggles documented in these firsthand accounts provide the context for
contemporary civil rights concerns, including voting rights. As gains from this
historic period are being contested and even rolled back, these narratives help
readers remember the ubiquity of injustices in that time and to recognize the
systemic discrimination and racism that continue to undermine basic civil
rights today.