Sale!

Wherever There’s a Fight: How Runaway Slaves, Suffragists, Immigrants, Strikers, and Poets Shaped Civil Liberties in California

Amazon.com Price:  $20.30 (as of 06/05/2019 09:27 PST- Details)

Description

The first-ever account of the struggle to develop and give protection to rights in the Golden State

Wherever There is a Fight captures the sweeping story of how freedom and equality have grown in California, from the gold rush right up to the precarious post-9/11 era. The book tells the stories of the brave individuals who have stood up for their rights in the face of social hostility, physical violence, economic hardship, and political stonewalling.

It connects the experiences of early Chinese immigrants subjected to discriminatory laws to those of professionals who challenged McCarthyism and those of people that have fought to gain equal rights in California schools: people of color, people with disabilities, and people standing up for their religious freedom. The authors bring a special focal point to the World War II internment of Japanese Americans, specializing in the infamous Korematsu case, which was once foreshadowed by a century of civil liberties violations and reverberates in more contemporary times–regrettably, even today in the Patriot Act. And they follow the ongoing struggles for workers’ rights and same-sex marriage.

State and federal constitutions spell out many liberties and rights, but it’s the people who challenge prejudice and discrimination that turn out to be those lofty ideals into practical realities. Wherever There is a Fight paints vivid portraits of these people and brings to light their ceaselessly hidden stories.

Winner of the Gold Medal in the 2010 California Book Awards

A Foreword Book of the Year

Home » Shop » Books » Subjects » Arts and Photography » History and Criticism » History » Americas » United States » Immigrants » Wherever There’s a Fight: How Runaway Slaves, Suffragists, Immigrants, Strikers, and Poets Shaped Civil Liberties in California

Recent Products