And We Are Not Saved: The Elusive Quest for Racial Justice

by Derrick Bell

Overview

The author of Faces at the Bottom of the Well and “the man behind critical race theory” (New Yorker) offers an imaginative investigation of American race relations and the difficult struggle for racial justice. 
 
In And We Are Not Saved, legal scholar and civil rights activist Derrick Bell calls for a deeper understanding of how white supremacy functions in the United States. Bell challenges the idea that significant social, political, and economic progress was achieved by the civil rights movement in the wake of the 1954 Brown v. Board decision. Through a series of fables and dramatic dialogues modeled on the grim fairytales of the eighteenth century, Bell explains the true pervasiveness of racial oppression within the American legal system. Racial inequality, he argues, is an integral part of American law and society, and it cannot be easily reversed through legislation. 
 
Hailed as “fascinating” (New York Times Book Review) and “daring” (Washington Post), this is a landmark work in the study of race in America. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465003297
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	03/31/1989
Edition description:	REPRINT
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	459,840
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.75(d)
Lexile:	1470L (what's this?)

About the Author

Derrick Bell (1930-2011) was a civil rights attorney, pioneering legal scholar, professor, and political activist. A full-time visiting professor at New York University Law School for over two decades, he was previously the first tenured African American professor on the faculty of Harvard Law School and the first African American dean of the University of Oregon School of Law. He is also the author of Faces at the Bottom of the Well and several other books.

Hometown:

New York, New York

Date of Birth:

November 6, 1930

Place of Birth:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Education:

A.B., Duquesne University, 1952; L.L.B., University of Pittsburgh Law School, 1957

Website:

http://www.law.nyu.edu/faculty/profiles/fulltime/belld.html

What People are Saying About This

John Hope Franklin

"A brilliant analysis."

Editorial Reviews

"Fascinating and provocative.... Mr. Bell has chosen to engage the often harsh realities of the black struggle for justice in America through the use of a storytelling technique filled with imagination, fantasy and unabashed spirituality."—Vincent Harding, New York Times Book Review

"A brilliant analysis of the problem of race in the United States today." —John Hope Franklin, Duke University

"A book of compelling originality, power, even enchantment." —Alice Walker

"Bell's daring technique allows us to look at race relations from a new perspective."—Juan Williams, Washington Post Book World

“Bell’s perspective retains its relevance. Even after his death, it has been far easier to disagree with him than to prove him wrong.”—Jelani Cobb, The New Yorker

"Derrick Bell, who is often described as the founder or godfather of critical race theory…. has been an important influence on some of today’s most influential writers on race, such as Ta-Nehisi Coates and Michelle Alexander…. For his supporters and critics alike, Derrick Bell remains a central figure.... His stark vision of the racial divide in American society and history has retained its power to provoke debate and activism across the political spectrum."—Wall Street Journal

"Will in all probability be the decade's most important book about civil rights." —Duncan Kennedy, Harvard Law School

"A powerful book that challenges us to understand the unfinished agenda for social justice of the civil rights movement."—Michael E. Tigar, American Bar Association Journal

"This is a remarkable book in the still intractable field of race relations.... A stimulating mine of ideas, well worthy of the careful consideration of all thoughtful Americans."—Erwin N. Griswold, former Solicitor General of the United States

From the Publisher

In this expansion of a foreword to a 1985 issue of the Harvard Law Review on the Supreme Court, Harvard Law School professor Bell (Race, Racism and American Law, etc.) asserts that although racial equality has been legally affirmed, economic equality after initial gains is retrogressing despite affirmative action. Lack of enforcement of legislation is partly to blame, he maintains, as are problems concerned as much with social class as color, notably self-interest of a dominant white society. Discussing unresolved racial contradictions of the Constitution, still largely responsible, in Bell's view, for racist attitudes, he uses ingenious metaphorical tales to illustrate aspects of racial injustice that still obtain. He charges that whites have benefited more than blacks from civil-rights reforms, citing desegregation of schools and the 14th Amendment and other measures that extend constitutional coverage to all citizens. He suggests the formation of a coalition of disadvantaged blacks and whites, urging that entitlement standards include class as well as racial disadvantage. (September 17)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Bell, a professor of law at Harvard, addresses the problem of race in a novel way. Rather than using a dry ``casebook'' approach, he makes his point through fantasy. A mythical character, Geneva Crenshaw, reveals through ten ``Celestial Chronicles'' the painful ``truth'' about recent civil rights laws and court cases: They have, she (and Bell) argue, more clearly benefited the white majority than the black minority. Only through a recapturing of Tom Watson's dreamseeing race as a function of classcan meaningful change occur. Although the fantasy device unfortunately becomes stilted and strained, this provocative work is recommended for large public and university libraries. Anthony O. Edmonds, History Dept., Ball State Univ., Muncie, Ind.

Library Journal