As a black Christian, Hammonds` poem resonates with me today. I understand because even in 2021, there are many black people I know personally who continue to hope that God will open the eyes of those in the dominant culture to give us full and equal citizenship. But even if that doesn`t happen, they continue, like James Hammond, to cling to the hope that „freedom in this world is nothing against the freedom of God`s children.“ Sadly, nearly 300 years later, it seems that nearly 300 years later, we are living in a reality very similar to that of James Hammond. This brings me to the question that many people of all races are asking today: „Do Black Lives Really Matter?“ In his first book, Justice A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., one of the first five African Americans to become federal judges, shows how the law itself helped inflict injustice on millions of Americans simply because of the color of their skin. For many readers, including those familiar with African American studies, American history, or law, this book will spark new passions. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the role our government has played in creating laws and policies that have tightened and normalized a caste system based on the issue of color. A. Leon Higgonbotham Jr.
does an incredible job detailing how we got to where we are today. As we continue to live in one of the most polarized periods in American history, with people denying reality and actively working to roll back civil and electoral rights, the words of A. Leon Higginontham Jr. „There is a [connection] between the brutal centuries of colonial slavery and today`s racial polarization and fears. The toxic legacy of legalized oppression based on the question of color can never be adequately eliminated from our society if we claim that slave laws never existed. For most of American history, the legal status of blacks was distinct and clearly not equal to the status enjoyed by whites. In the Matter of Color by A. Leon Higginbotham explores the origin of the laws that governed slavery in the American colonies. His work examines fundamental questions in legal and social history and raises new questions about the role of law in determining the future of race relations in this society. The Honorable A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., who served as a federal judge for 30 years, took the time to write a brilliant piece of American history that goes almost unnoticed in our American public and private school system. This book, In the Matter of Color, was written over a 10-year period to discover how the breed was intentionally used during the colonial period (1600-1800) to determine the path of Americans for the next 7-8 generations.
Through his lens as a federal judge and black man, he took the time to document how the entire legal apparatus was used by those who had the power to establish a strong legal tradition for absolute black slavery. Justice Higginbotham said that „the reluctance of the courts, state legislators, and even honest officials to try to decide whether blacks are, and if so, a different species from whites, the difference warrants separate and different treatment.“ He draws more than 1,350 sources from laws, laws, procedures, books, documentation and personal accounts of free and enslaved people to represent his case. There is a [connection] between the brutal centuries of colonial slavery and racial polarization and today`s fears. The toxic legacy of legalized oppression based on the question of color can never be adequately eliminated from our society if we claim that slave laws never existed. —The Honourable A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. Like the founding documents to which our legal system adheres to this day, the colonial period consisted of ideals that were desirable but very rarely applied in practice. In the Matter of Color is a great 43-year-old literary work that illustrates why in 2021 we are witnessing an uprising of Blacks, Indigenous, Latinx, Asians and whites coming together to oppose the system that has long oppressed and marginalized people of all races, gender identities, ages and sexual orientations. While there are many people who do not fully understand how things that happened centuries ago still affect generations of people today, we should listen to the words of the principal author of the 14th and 15th amendments, Charles Sumner in 1870, and try to understand them.