Drastic Action: The 1983 Course Boycott at Harvard Law School

Authors

Brando Simeo Starkey, Harvard Law School

First Page

56

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Progress often comes slower than most want. No one knows this better than black Americans. After slavery, it took another century for blacks to finally receive equal treatment under the law with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But after the big hopes following the Civil Rights Movement, the lack of progress hurt all the more. Most blacks assumed that with the dismantling of Jim Crow, equality would surely follow. This, however, was not the case. By the 1980s, few blacks still reached the pinnacle of success. The black students at Harvard were acutely aware of this fact. Although they were able to attend a top law school, there were no black professors available. After one wrong move by the Dean, the minority students at Harvard were fed up.9 And the boycott was on.

Recommended Citation

Brando S. Starkey, Drastic Action: The 1983 Course Boycott at Harvard Law School, 21 St. Thomas L. Rev. 56 (2008).
Available at: https://scholarship.stu.edu/stlr/vol21/iss1/8