Law Resources for Diversity and Racial Justice

This HeinOnline collection brings together a multitude of essential legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. This includes every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery. The cases go into the 20th century, because long after slavery was ended, there were still court cases based on issues emanating from slavery. The library has hundreds of pamphlets and books written about slavery—defending it, attacking it or simply analyzing it. The editors have gathered every English-language legal commentary on slavery published before 1920, which includes many essays and articles in obscure, hard-to-find journals in the United States and elsewhere. The database provides more than a thousand pamphlets and books on slavery from the 19th century. It provides word searchable access to all Congressional debates from the Continental Congress to 1880. It also includes many modern histories of slavery. Within this library is a section containing all modern law review articles on the subject. This library will continue to grow, not only from new scholarship but also from historical material that we continue to locate and add to the collection.

The Brennan Center for Justice was founded in 1995 by former law clerks to Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., who served on the Supreme Court from 1956 to 1990. During Justice Brennan’s time on the court, he was known for his progressive views and authored several landmark case opinions, including Baker v. Carr, New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, and Texas v. Johnson. The Brennan Center seeks to continue Justice Brennan’s judicial legacy by advocating for policies that reform, revitalize and defend America’s systems of democracy and equal justice for all. Combining elements of a think tank, a legal advocacy group, and a communications group, the Center’s current work is divided into three programs of focus: Democracy, Justice, and Liberty & National Security. Their Democracy program collaborates with grassroots groups and other advocacy organizations to protect voting rights, ensure the integrity of the courts, and reform campaign finance law. The Justice program works to end mass incarceration and create a more effective justice system. Lastly, the Liberty & National Security program focuses on protecting citizens’ privacy and advocating for oversight of national security policies. NYU law students often serve as interns and work on Brennan Center projects, and NYU law faculty comprise one-third of the Center’s board of directors, in addition to working with the Center in various capacities.

HeinOnline’s Civil Rights database brings together a diverse offering of publications covering civil rights in the United States as their legal protections and definitions are expanded to cover more and more Americans. Containing hearings and committee prints, legislative histories on the landmark legislations, CRS and GAO reports, briefs from major Supreme Court cases, and publications from the Commission on Civil Rights, this database allows users to educate themselves on the ways our civil rights have been strengthened and expanded over time, as well as how these legal protections can go further still. A curated list of scholarly articles, a varied collection of books on many civil rights topics, and a list of prominent civil rights organizations help take the research beyond HeinOnline.

HeinOnline’s Criminal Justice & Criminology offers an historical overview of these ever-changing disciplines and their various expressions in American and English law over time. Collecting Bureau of Justice statistics, memoirs of retired Scotland Yard investigators, congressional hearings on drug control policies, accounts of prison life in days long past and much more, this collection explores how criminal justice has changed in America and the effect criminology has had on those changes. It collects government documents as well as rare or hard to find pamphlets, memoirs, and books written by ordinary law enforcement officers and not-so-famous criminals. To help users navigate the content spanning these two wide-reaching disciplines, all titles in this collection have been subject coded into 16 subject areas: Attorney General, Crimes and Criminals, Criminal Statistics, Criminology, Drug Enforcement, Government Law, Investigation and Forensics, Juvenile Justice, Law and Procedure, Law Enforcement, Organized Crime, Penology, Reform and Recidivism, Reminiscences, Sex Crimes, and Victimology.

ProQuest History Vault's coverage of the Black Freedom Struggle offers the opportunity to study the most well-known and also unheralded events of the Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century from the perspective of the men, women, and sometimes even children who waged one of the most inspiring social movements in American history. This category consists of the NAACP Papers and federal government records, organizational records, and personal papers regarding the Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century. The NAACP Papers collection consists of 6 modules. The NAACP Papers collections contains internal memos, legal briefings, and direct action summaries from national, legal, and branch offices throughout the country. It charts the NAACP's work and delivers a first-hand view into crucial issues. With a timeline that runs from 1909 to 1972, the NAACP Papers document the realities of segregation in the early 20th century to the triumphs of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and beyond.The Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century consists of four modules: two modules of Federal Government Records, and two modules of Organizational Records and Personal Papers, offering unique documentation and a variety of perspectives on the 20th century fight for freedom. Major collections in these modules include Civil Rights records from the Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and George H. W. Bush presidencies; the Martin Luther King FBI File and FBI Files on locations of major civil rights demonstrations like Montgomery and Selma, Alabama or St. Augustine, Florida; and the records of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC), Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

This category consists of six modules: Slavery and the Law; Slavery in Antebellum Southern Industries; two modules of Southern Life and African American History, 1775-1915, Plantations Records; a module on the Civil War entitled "Confederate Military Manuscripts and Records of Union Generals and the Union Army"; and Reconstruction and Military Government after the Civil War. Slavery and the Law features petitions on race, slavery, and free blacks that were submitted to state legislatures and county courthouses between 1775 and 1867. Southern Plantation Records document the far-reaching impact of plantations on both the American South and the nation. Plantation records are both business records and personal papers because the plantation was both the business and the home for plantation owners. The Confederate Military Manuscripts module brings together unique collections that are being digitized for the first time. Reconstruction and Military Government after the Civil War features correspondence of the U.S. Army's Office of Civil Affairs.

This resource was compiled by Autumn Gupta with Bryanna Wallace’s oversight for the purpose of providing a starting place for individuals trying to become better allies.

This is a working document for scaffolding anti-racism resources. The goal is to facilitate growth for white folks to become allies, and eventually accomplices for anti-racist work. These resources have been ordered in an attempt to make them more accessible. We will continue to add resources.

This list of articles, published over the course of JSTOR Daily's five years provide resources for lecturers to help students understand George Floyd's death in the context of institutionalized racism.

Contains complimentary daily updates on executive, legislative and regulatory activity as it relates to racial equality and police reform.

These 15 courses address conscious and unconscious bias toward groups that have been marginalized at both the individual and systemic level. This curriculum is intended to help users navigate ways to engage with difficult topics through academically robust, objective, and research-based content. The foundational course will introduce thought processes and terminology that will be presented throughout the curriculum. The 14 remaining courses will cover topics in more depth, including race, gender, religion, political culture, disabilities, sexuality, nationality and age.

This resource contains a list of governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, judicial, research and educational resources and documents on civil and human rights.