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2 U. Tol. L. Rev. 903 (1970)
Racism and American Law: A New Course in Legal History

handle is hein.journals/utol2 and id is 915 raw text is: RACISM AND AMERICAN LAW: A NEW COURSE IN LEGAL HISTORY Haywood Burns* The legal educational system must reevaluate itself so that law school training is more responsive to the demands of our changing society. The author contends that all law students are disadvantaged under the present system if teaching methods fail to put the law into a social context. Professor Burns uses as an example of curriculum changes hejavors, a seminar course on Racism and American Law taught at New York University School ofLaw. The course deals with racism and its development in A merica as well as the potential of law Jbr eliminating racism in our society. Law schools have long given the nation the kinds of lawyers it has demanded. In a society bent on material acquisition and self-aggrandizement law school curriculum has been designed to produce the type of advocate and counselor who can best serve these drives. The disproportionate emphasis on commercial and property subjects in law school catalogs has been universal. However, given the present nature of our society, it is not the presence of large numbers of courses in these areas that can validly provide the basis for current curriculum criticism. The need for them is self-evident. The fault is rather one of omission-the failure to provide courses that serve other values and interests and to place the law in some kind of social context. The fact that law school training in the past has reflected societal demands should perhaps be encouraging for today's proponents of curriculum revision; for our society is presently undergoing substantial reexamination. Increasingly Americans are questioning old values and assumptions and engaging in what can only be regarded as healthy self-doubt. There is a heightened * B.A., Harvard University, 1962; Cambridge University, 1963; LL.B., Yale University, 1966; Member, New York Bar; Director, National Conference of Black Lawyers; Adjunct Lecturer, New York University School of Law.

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