All Deliberate Speed: Reflections on the First Half-Century of Brown V. Board of Education [Hardcover]

Charles J. Ogletree (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 2004

ON MAY 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the doctrine of "separate but equal" was unconstitutional. Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., was not even two at the rime, and his family, farm workers in southern California, had scant knowledge of how keenly the ruling would affect them. In "All Deliberate Speed Ogletree examines the personal ramifications of the decision for him and his family--his childhood in the wake of the "Brown decision, his student days at Stanford and Harvard Law, his immersion in the Boston busing crisis--and its meaning for all Americans. Presenting a vivid pageant of historical characters including Thurgood Marshall. Martin Luther King, Jr., Earl Warren. Anita Hill, and Clarence Thomas, Ogletree discusses the ambivalence of our judicial system, the increasing legal challenges to affirmative action, and the issue of reparations. Informed throughout by brilliant legal insight, "All Deliberate Speed compellingly traces the history of race and integration in American society, and will promote intense debate and reconsideration.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Harvard Law professor Ogletree presents an objective analysis of the progress and limitations of the two Brown decisions: the first ruling that separate but equal, i.e., segregation, was inherently unequal; the second urging desegregation with all deliberate speed. Ogletree follows the legal case history in pursuit of Brown, including its limited successes, its failures, and what appears to be resistance to, if not reversal of, Brown's objective. Born around the time of the landmark decision, Ogletree sees himself as a real beneficiary. He places affirmative action in the context of pursuing the objectives of Brown and analyzes the strategies used by Charles Houston and Thurgood Marshall to challenge southern states to provide equal opportunities for blacks as a platform for outlawing segregation per se. Ogletree follows Marshall's career in the U.S. Supreme Court, his death, and his replacement by the archconservative Clarence Thomas. Thomas' hostility toward affirmative action reflects our nation's failure of commitment to achieve integration at a time when resegregation appears to be the order of the day. Vernon Ford
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

A bold and original analysis of the complex and often surprising effects of Brown v. Board on American society. -- Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

A provocative and intimate reflection...not only Charles Ogletree's story, it is the story of an entire generation. -- Anita Hill

A remarkable and very readable account of one young man's coming of age during the civil rights movement....downright exciting. -- John Hope Franklin, Professor of History Emeritus, Duke University, Author of From Slavery to Freedom

A superb account of the history and relevance of Brown v. Board of Education at its half-century. -- Peter J. Gomes, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in The Memorial Church, Harvard University

Charles Ogletree's engrossing memoir of 50 years of personal growth and professional achievement is a profoundly significant meditation. -- David Levering Lewis, author of Pulitzer Prize-winner W. E. B. Du Bois

[Ogletree's] powerful book is a grand testament to his intellectual sophistication, moral passion and political integrity. -- Cornel West

[Ogletree] personalizes this historic case in a compelling, dramatic way. This is a must-read as well as a great read. -- Alan Dershowitz, author of The Case For Israel

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (April 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393058972
• ISBN-13: 978-0393058970
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #132,077 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Bearing Witness to the Truth" -- All Deliberate Speed, May 25, 2004

By 

"pnhharris" (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Deliberate Speed: Reflections on the First Half-Century of Brown V. Board of Education (Hardcover)

All Deliberate Speed bears witness to the truth about our two party education system. This book should be on the required reading list for all students in both high school and college. It is a must read for law students who take, or contemplate taking constitutional law courses or anyone who truly wants to understand the impact of Brown v. Board of Education.

All Deliberate Speed speaks the truth. In some chapters the author gives you hope and in other chapters, the author allows the reader to ponder the future. Reading and understanding this book should help eliminate un-substantiated bias against integration. However, there is no question that the author points out the damage racial segregation, housed and surrounded by inequality, does to our society.

For example, in chapter six, Ogletree clearly exposes the reader to the fact that our government denied African-Americans full citizenship rights through legislation, judicial decisions as well as Jim Crow customs and behaviors.

Was the denial of full citizenship rights (education, accommodations, housing, voting) for African-Americans a grant of "affirmative action" for the white majority? Does the phrase "all deliberate speed" give or take away from the impact or the seriousness of the Brown decisions? Ogletree addresses these question and others in his 'adept' analysis of the decisions in Brown v. Board I and in Brown v. Board II.

Ogletree masterfully points out that a proper education includes, but is not limited to ethnic diversity, safe buildings, good teacher pay, desks, books, parental involvement, technology, etc. A proper education for all supports ones ability to successfully integrate oneself into our society and is germane to our survival as a nation. All Deliberate Speed is an excellent, excellent book. Easy to read, easy to understand, provocative, educational and truthful. Separate but equal is inherently un-equal.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timely, Informative, Encouraging & Challenging!, May 20, 2004

By 

"bedmonds1" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Deliberate Speed: Reflections on the First Half-Century of Brown V. Board of Education (Hardcover)

This book is instructive of the history not only of this nation's educational system before during and after the historic Brown decision, but of the struggles African Americans have endured as a race in the face of adversity. The book reflects on the contributions of Charles Hamilton Houston to the strtegy employed by Thurgood Marshall and others.

Professor Ogletree further encourages parents to take alternative steps to ensure children receive quality education in order to contribute to the global society in which we all live. As an African American attorney, I am equally challenged to use the law and reason to advocate for improving the way of life for all Americans.

Thank you

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Thoughtful, Moving Journey, May 15, 2004

By 

"millerej11" (Northampton, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Deliberate Speed: Reflections on the First Half-Century of Brown V. Board of Education (Hardcover)

Professor Ogletree's book personalizes the history and impact of the Brown v. Board of education decision, expressing its importance through his experiences on the front lines of civil rights activism from the 1970s until the present. Professor Ogletree has been uniquely well placed to write about this subject, witnessing many of the most important moments in our recent history of race relations first hand, and he is himself attempting to write a new chapter in this history as the 21st Century dawn. His critique of Brown, Thurgood Marshall, and Clarence Thomas, as well as his discussion of reparations, gives the forward-looking conclusions of the book special depth and resonance. This book is a must-read for anyone concerned with the past, present, and future of racial activism in the United States.