The American Civil Rights State: The Role of Federal Power in the Pursuit of Racial Justice

• In Event: Behavioral and Historical Perspectives on Multiracial Democracy in the U.S.

Brief Overview

In the mid-20th century, the American state belatedly transformed itself into an agent of racial equality. Through a comparison of the two reconstructions, we explain this shift--and its more recent reversal--as the result of 'forceful federalism.'

Authors

• Desmond King

• Robert Lieberman, Johns Hopkins University