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This book is considered to be both a powerful personal memoir and a definitive history of an organization that helped change American society, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF).
Together with Thurgood Marshall and a cadre of brilliant young attorneys, Greenberg became a key figure at the LDF. He joined the staff in 1949 and remained with the organization for 35 years, succeeding Marshall as Director-Counsel in 1961 with Marshall's appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. During Greenberg's tenure, most cases associated with civil rights history -- school integration, equal employment, fair housing, voter registration -- were argued with his participation or litigated under his direction.
More than a history of the litigation that made the LDF so important, the book offers unique insights into the organizations strategies, courtroom techniques, values, and personal relationships. It is filled with stories of his experiences, including the cases in Brown v. Board of Education; representing Martin Luther King, Jr. in Birmingham to win his right to march from Selma to Montgomery; the integration of the University of Mississippi, and the University of Alabama when George Wallace stood in the school house door. Crusaders in the Courts is an epic saga of a critical period in American history. Jack Greenberg joined the faculty of Columbia Law School in 1984. He served as Dean of the College from 1989 to 1993 and remains a member of the LDF Board of Directors.
Throughout his narrative, Wilson recalls events known only to Brown insiders. He recreates the world of Kansasin the 1950s and places the case in the context of those times and politics. The author provides important information about the state's ambivalent defense.
Reflections from his perspective reveal that the Kansas case and his own role were different from the other cases joined with Brown in significant ways. After all, this U.S. Supreme Court decision was not based on one case, but five cases combined under the heading of Brown. These cases were Briggs v. Elliott from South Carolina, Bolling v. Sharpe from the District of Columbia, Belton v. Gebhart (Bulah v. Gebhart) from Delaware, Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, and Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, Virginia. Although the basic contention in these cases was the same -- the injustice resulting from racial segregation in public schools -- the Kansas case permitted a challenge of segregation per se. Did it in fact violate the 14th Amendment?
Wilson suggests some fundamental lessons about his experience, the evolution of race relations, and the lawyer's role in the judicial resolution of social conflict. He concludes, "Any scheme that classifies people on the basis of race or color and withholds from one class benefits that are enjoyed by others is indefensible. As a lawyer, I spoke in defense of a law that permitted such a result."
Crusaders in the Courts: How a Dedicated Band of Lawyers Fought for the Civil Rights Revolution
Jack Greenberg, Esq.
Basic Books, 1994
A Time to Lose: Representing Kansas in Brown v. Board of Education
Paul Wilson, Distinguished Professor of Law
University Press of Kansas, 1995
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