And Justice for All: Race, Gender, & the Law in U.S. History

Fall 2025 - Professor Donna D. Anderson

Unit 1: Citizenship & the Foundations of American Legal History

Week 1: Marbury v. Madison

• Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Week 2: Cherokee Nation v. the State of Georgia 

Legal Concepts: Federal Indian Policy, Citizenship, Colonialism

• Cherokee Nation v. the State of Georgia (1831)
• Dawes Act (1887)
• Elk v. Wilkins (1884)
• Keith Richoette Jr., "The Worst Trickster Story Ever Told: Native America, the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Constitution," U.S. Law & Race Webinar Series 

Week 3: Dred Scott v. Sandford

Legal Concepts: Citizenship, Freedom Suits, Slavery

• Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
• Matilda v. Isaac Vanbibber (1815)
• Ann v. Henry Hight (1816)
• Aspisa v. Hardage Lane (1837)
• Taneil Ruffin, "Gradual Abolition Laws, Race, and Freedom in the Early Republic," Teaching Module

Week 4: Plessy v. Ferguson

Legal Concepts: Jim Crow Laws, Civil Rights

• Civil Rights Act of 1866 
• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
• Kate Masur, "Equal Protection, Reconstruction, and the Meaning of the 14th Amendment," U.S. Law and Race Webinar Series

Week 5: United States v. Wong Kim Ark

Legal Concepts: Citizenship, Immigration

• Scott Act of 1888
• United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) 
• Katie Wu, "Racial Violence at Rock Springs, Property Compensation, and 'Indemnity' during Chinese Exclusion," Teaching Module

Unit 2: Equal Protection & Reinscribing Race in the United States

Week 6: Ozawa v. United States & Thind v. United States  

Legal Concepts: Naturalization, Citizenship, Whiteness 

• Naturalization Act of 1870
• Ozawa v. United States (1922)
• Thind v. United States (1923)

Week 7: Korematsu v. United States

Legal Concepts: Immigration, Incarceration, Whiteness

• Alien Registration Form for Kit Chun (1940)
• Korematsu v. United States (1944)
• Ex Parte Endo (1944)

Week 8: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

Legal Concepts: Education, Civil Rights, Student Rights

• Mendez v. Westminster (1946)
• Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
• Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)

Week 9: Regents of the University of California v. Bakke

Legal Concepts: Affirmative Action, Education

• Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
• Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard (2022) 
• Eric Berger, Danielle Jefferis, and Catherine Wilson, "Affirmative Action's Origins and Legacies", U.S. Law and Race Webinar 
• Eric Berger, "Academic Freedom Amid Curricular Regulation and Research Restrictions," U.S. Law and Race Webinar

Week 10: Dept. of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California

Legal Concepts: Affirmative Action, Education, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Chicano/a/x Immigration Law

• Elihu Schooner v. State of Missouri (1858)
• Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

Unit 3: Gender & the Family in U.S. Legal History

Week 11: Loving v. Virginia

Legal Concepts: Marriage, Race Relations

• Expatriation Act (1907)
• Cable Act (1922)
• Loving v. Virginia (1967)

Week 12: Loving v. Virginia continued + Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl 

Legal Concepts: Adoption, Family Law, Tribal Sovereignty

• Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl (2013)
• Indian Child Welfare Act (1978) 
• An Act to Adopt the Negroes of the Chickasaw Nation (1873)

Week 13: Roe v. Wade

Legal Concepts: Gender, Reproductive Rights, Women's Rights  

• Roe v. Wade (1973)
• Doe v. Bolton (1973)
• Alicia Guiterrez-Romine, "From Back Alley to the Border: Criminal Abortion in the 20th-century U.S.," U.S. Law and Race Webinar

Week 14: Roe v. Wade continued + Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

Legal Concepts: Gender, Reproductive Rights, Women's Rights  

• Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022)

Week 15: Obergefell v. Hodges

Legal Concepts: Marriage, LGBTQ+ Rights, Self-Determination

• Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)
• Baker v. Nelson (1972)
• Bowers v. Hardwick (1986)

Week 16: Nixon v. Fitzgerald

Legal Concepts: Presidential Immunity

• Nixon v. Fitzgerald (1981)
• Trump v. United States (2024)