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3 Temp. Pol. & Civ. Rts. L. Rev. 89 (1993-1994)
Teaching Williams v. Walker-Thomas Furniture Co.

handle is hein.journals/tempcr3 and id is 93 raw text is: Teaching Williams v. Walker-Thomas Furniture Co. by MURIEL MORISEY SPENCE* I. INTRODUCTION The lawyer-poet Wallace Stevens once wrote, I was of three minds, like a tree in which there are three blackbirds.' I recall this poetic segment when reflecting on efforts I and other law teachers across the country are making to bring into our courses more of the perspectives and experiences of white women, men and women of color, people with disabilities, of diverse sexual orientations or of di- verse economic classes.2 First, and most importantly, I believe that these efforts are a necessary part of our duty to educate students for the world beyond law school. Second, I am gratified that we have begun to make legal education more responsive to these groups be- cause it sends an important inclusive message to law students and the legal profession about whom the law does and should serve. But my third reaction is one of ambivalence. Even as I participate in and ap- plaud these efforts,3 I worry that as we enrich the law school curricu- lum and dialogue we may perpetuate assumptions and stereotypes about the people whose perspectives we seek to incorporate. * Associate Professor of Law, Temple University. A.B. 1969, Radcliffe College (Harvard University); J.D. 1977, Georgetown University Law Center. I am indebted to the following for their comments and suggestions: Alice Abreu, Mark Anderson, Jane Baron, Allan Farnsworth, Cassandra Jones Havard, Ginger Patterson, Deborah Post, Don Price, Gerry Spann and Bill Young. 1. Wallace Stevens, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, in TrE COLLECTED POEMS OF WALLACE STEVENS 92 (1993). 2. These efforts include: Teaching Contracts Using Outsider Perspectives at Associa- tion of American Law Schools Annual Meeting at Orlando, FL (Jan. 1994); Re-Imagining Traditional Law School Courses: Workshops Integrating Class, Disability, Gender, Race, Sexual Orientation and Other Issues of Social Concern Into Teaching and Course Materi- als at Society of American Law Teachers Teaching Conference at Santa Clara University (Oct. 1993); Re-Imagining Traditional Law School Courses: Workshops Integrating Class, Disability, Gender, Race and Sexual Preference Into Our Teaching and Course Materials at Society of American Law Teachers Teaching Conference at New York University (May 1993). 3. This involvement has included serving as a panelist at Society of American Law Teachers and Association of American Law Schools programs in October 1993 and Janu- ary 1994.

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