Honors College 499CR - SupremeCourt, Race Family Fall

In this Honors thesis seminar, participants will collaboratively study selected landmark Supreme Court cases that have had major impacts upon the experience of race and family in the United States. Cases studied involve such issues as racial segregation, interracial and same-sex marriage, reproductive rights, and child welfare. Our focus will be upon the social, cultural, and political contexts of these cases rather than on the Supreme Court as an institution or on legal reasoning per se, though at times we will also closely read majority and dissenting opinions. We will also explore the stories of people affected by these rulings, such as Richard and Mildred Loving, the couple whose case overturned laws against interracial marriage, and Fred Korematsu, who resisted the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. The course is multidisciplinary in nature and no Legal Studies background is required.

Consent of instructor required. Please e-mail Martha Yoder at marthay@history.umass.edu.