“[T]he book offers a great deal for students of the civil rights era. The collection reflects emerging trends in the historiography of the era, including gender, class, rural-urban relationships, and intraracial differences. Its wide variety of topics will please individuals with different research and personal interests, and yet the central focus on Brown unites them analytically. Importantly, the collection contains few errors, and its chapters are well researched.” — Brian Daugherity , Virginia Magazine of History and Biography
“[T]his collection convincingly challenges any easy assumption that the civil rights story progressed in a straight line, or even a single line. . . . From the Grassroots to the Supreme Court offers a picture of the civil rights revolution that is appropriately diverse and complex. Advanced undergraduates and graduate students will appreciate its complications of the familiar narrative, while even specialists will discover something new.” — Kevin M. Kruse , Journal of Southern History
“[T]his volume is a solid addition to the literature ranking…as one of the best anthologies published in these years of commemoration and reflection.” — Michael Fultz , Journal of African American History
“All of the essays have something to offer the scholar whose work covers this field and will certainly enhance the understanding of more casual readers of civil rights history. . . . This is a fine collection of essays. . . .” — Mary Waalkes , North Carolina Historical Review
“Lau has put together a fine book that increases our understanding of Brown.” — Robert J. Cottrol , Journal of American History
“From the Grassroots to the Supreme Court combines well-crafted accounts that are both top-down and bottom-up (sometimes within the same essay). This intellectually stimulating approach generates unanticipated synergies, new ways of understanding the persisting struggle for racial justice.” — David L. Kirp, author of Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line: The Marketing of Higher Education
“This book does a wonderful job of bringing history to life by revealing the human stories behind the Supreme Court’s famous decision. Each contribution offers a rich and textured picture of how Brown touched individual lives, prompting hope, fear, courage, and despair.” — Rachel F. Moran, author of Interracial Intimacy: The Regulation of Race and Romance