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28 Conn. L. Rev. 1 (1995-1996)
Race, Culture, and Contract Law: From the Cottonfield to the Courtroom

handle is hein.journals/conlr28 and id is 11 raw text is: CONNECTICUT
LAW REVIEW

VOLUME 28                           FALL 1995                           NUMBER 1
RACE, CULTURE, AND CONTRACT LAW:
FROM THE COTTONFIELD TO THE
COURTROOM
Anthony R. Chase
I. INTRODUCTION
A joke. A nigger joke. That was the way it got started. Not
the town, of course, but that part of town where the Negroes
lived, the part they called the Bottom in spite of the fact that it
was up in the hills. Just a nigger joke. The kind white folks tell
when the mill closes down and they're looking for a little com-
fort somewhere. The kind colored folks tell on themselves when
* Associate Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center. A.B, Harvard College
(1977); J.D., Harvard Law School '(1981); M.B.A., Harvard Business School (1981). This Article
is dedicated twice. First, to my father, John S. Chase, who integrated the University of Texas
under court order in 1950 and is that institution's first black graduate. See Swcant v. Painter,
339 U.S. 629 (1950). HIs life's experience resonates with the interconnection between law and
issues of race. It is also dedicated to my infant godson, Will MeDugald. who is white, with the
hope that the premises herein advanced in some small way better his world. Special thanks to
Dina Alsowayel and Professor Derrick A. Bell, Jr., New York University School of Law. Pro-
fessors David Wilkins of Harvard Law School, Deborah Post of Touro Law School, Peter
Linzer and Steve Zamora of the University of Houston Law Center. Peter Thornton and Gudron
Klein, and members of the University of Houston Black Law Students Association made helpful
comments on prior drafts. An earlier version of this article was presented at the Critical Race
Theory Workshop in June 1994 at the University of Miami School of Law and its participants
offered many helpful insights. Hila J. Alderman, Nandita Berry, Elizabeth Hollas and Rhonda
Wills provided invaluable research assistance.

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