BOOK REVIEWS
Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, From the Revo-
lution to Reconstruction REVIEWS BY ALYCE ORTUZAR
By Kate Masur 2021; W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.: New York
456 pp, (HB); $32.00 ISBN 9781324005940
Across the twenty-six states that then comprised the United States, laws that singled out Black res- idents for discriminatory treat- ment were widely accepted by white residents. ~ Excerpted from Until Justice Be Done
This gripping and well-written historical narrative traces the ebbs DQGÀRZVRIRXUH[SHULPHQWZLWKGHPRFUDF\PDLQO\LQWKHFRQWH[WRI black versus white race relations — how far we have come and how far we still have to go. This book focuses on the widespread prevalence throughout the United States in the eighteenth century and at least WKURXJKWKH¿UVWGHFDGHRIWKHQLQHWHHQWKFHQWXU\RIHJUHJLRXV%ODFN Laws that “construed African Americans as a separate and threatening class of people.” These laws required Black Americans to register with local authorities, which also entailed paying a fee. Black people were prohibited from voting and from testifying in cases involving white litigants. Other sordid chapters in our history that are covered in this book document when Asians and Asian Americans also felt the pain from racial disparagement, and exclusion from the political process and mainstream economic opportunities (in addition to the World War II internment camps). Being Black in America ,QWKH2KLR'HPRFUDWLF3DUW\QHZVSDSHUWKH &LQFLQQDWL'DLO\ (QTXLUHU , defended the discriminatory Black Laws and the purview RI WKH VWDWH OHJLVODWXUH WR HQDFW WKHP 'HVSLWH GHPDQGV IURP %ODFN $PHULFDQVIRUHTXDOULJKWVDQGFLWL]HQVKLSPRUHVWDWHVFRQWLQXHGWR HQDFW WKHVH UDFLVWDQG UHSUHVVLYHSUDFWLFHV7KHDXWKRU FKDUDFWHUL]HV this ongoing struggle on the part of African Americans to achieve ra- FLDO HTXDOLW\ DV ³$PHULFD¶V ¿UVW FLYLO ULJKWVPRYHPHQW WKDW SHUVLVWHG GXULQJWKH¿UVWHLJKWGHFDGHVRIRXUQDWLRQ¶VKLVWRU\7KHWHQVLRQVWRRN place mainly at the state level where most individual rights were de- ¿QHG HQDFWHG DQG HQIRUFHG´ $IULFDQ $PHULFDQV RUJDQL]HG DQG OHG the opposition to this unacceptable denial of their humanity, person- KRRGDQGFLWL]HQVKLS Life as an African American in the United States from its found- ing meant that Black children were denied an education (public funds could only be used to educate white children); Blacks had no property ULJKWV UHFRJQL]HG E\ WKH FRXUWV DQG $IULFDQ $PHULFDQ VDLORUV FRXOG end up in a southern jail just for being black. There were few to no protections for African Americans from violent attacks that included kidnapping and being sold into slavery. “In slaveholding Virginia, a dark skin color or any traces of African descent were considered prima facie evidence of an enslaved status.” ,QDGGLWLRQWRUHVWULFWLYHODZVSDVVHGLQWKHVDQG VPDQGDW -
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