Women of Color and the Law Online Course

Course Description:

This asynchronous course will examine the experiences of women in the legal profession and the courts with an emphasis on racial and ethnic minority women.  In this course, we will examine the impact of race and ethnicity on the legal status and outcomes of minority women.  We will primarily examine the experiences of African American women, but will also study issues that affect Latinas, Asian American women, immigrant women of color, and Native American women. The modules will address the following topics: 1) criminal justice and incarceration; 2) educational discrimination; 3) employment discrimination; 4) immigration issues; 5) language discrimination; 6) reproductive rights and domestic violence; 7) understanding the law school process and entering the profession; and 8) the trafficking and exploitation of women of color.  The instructor will post eight 10-15 minute lectures and students will watch documentaries, participate in discussion posts, and complete required readings.  This course meets requirements for the African American Studies and Political Science majors, the Asian American Studies minor, and as an outside course for Women’s Studies majors and minors.

Course Objectives:

  • Learn the correct method for briefing cases.
  • Analyze racial and ethnic issues raised in law review and other scholarly articles.
  • Examine theories that assess the experience of women of color such as critical race theory, feminist theories, implicit bias theories, the theory of intersectionality, and womanist theories.
  • Understand the challenges that women of color experience in the legal arena as professors, attorneys, plaintiffs, and defendants.

Required Textbooks:

  1. Cynthia Bowman, et al. Feminist Jurisprudence, Cases and Materials. Fifth Edition. New York: West Academic Press. 2018.

 Asian American Women: Issues, Concerns and Responsive Human and Civil Rights Advocacy can be found on reserve and at the link below: https://aapip.org/sites/default/files/publication/files/aawp_full_reports.pdf.

Course Requirements:

  1. Introduction Post (3% of Grade).

In one or two paragraphs, introduce yourself and explain why you have registered for this course.

  1. Syllabus Acknowledgment and Acceptance (2% of Grade).

Please sign and date the information below and upload it to canvas.  I ___________________________ have carefully read the syllabus in its entirety and agree with the requirements, policies, and all other terms. I have asked clarifying questions to ensure that I understand what I read. Signature: ________________________ Date: _____________

  1. Briefs of Cases: Students must brief the cases listed on the syllabus. (20% of Grade)
  2. Participation in the 5 Open-Book Discussion Posts (6% each of 30% combined of Grade) You must post your comments on the questions on or before the dates they are due. Also, your grade will be based on your ability to support your opinions with references from the readings.
  3. Three Quizzes (10% each or 30% of Grade)

Each of the exams will consist of three essay questions.  Each test will have three essay questions – two of which are worth 40 points and one worth 20 points.  Your grade will be based on your knowledge of the readings and ability to analyze them.

  1. Chesterfield Smith Women in the Legal Profession Essay (15% of Grade)

Submit a 6-8 page essay that summarizes the major themes mentioned by the panelists at the “Legacy of Chesterfield Smith” panel discussion and in the readings from the Smith collection.

Module 1

Historical Considerations and Constitutional Equality

Objectives:

  • Study the discrimination that women faced before the modern women’s movement.
  • Define the concepts of intermediate and strict scrutiny.
  • Understand the difference between disparate impact and disparate treatment.

To Do List during the first week of class:

  • Introduction Post: In one or two paragraphs, introduce yourself and explain why you have registered for this course. Also respond to two of your classmates’ posts. by 11:59pm January 9, 2022.
  • Syllabus Acknowledgment and Acceptance: Please sign and date the information below and upload it to canvas. I _________________________ have carefully read the syllabus in its entirety and agree with the requirements, policies, and all other terms. I have asked clarifying questions to ensure that I understand what I read.  Deadline: 11:59pm January 9, 2022.

To Do List for the first discussion post:

  • Watch the introduction and the federal courts lecture
  • Watch “Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority” (55 minutes).
  • Read Chapter 1 (The Historical Background of Feminist Legal Theory) from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook and “Discontented Black Feminists” (on the course reserves page).
  • Respond to the discussion post. Deadline: 11:59pm January 14, 2022.

Recommended: Chapter 3 (Feminist Legal Theory); “Extending bell hooks Feminist Theory” (on reserve)

Module 2

Violence Against Women (Rape and Trafficking)

Objectives:

  • Examine the biases toward female rape victims.
  • Understand the correct method for briefing cases.
  • Identify the methods traffickers use to solicit their victims.
  • Explain the background, activism, and legacy of Pauli Murray.
  • Define Jane Crow Theory.

To Do List for the Second Discussion Post and Quiz:

  1. Watch the online lecture on the issue of rape.
  2. Watch The 40th Anniversary of Joan Little’s Pivotal Murder Acquittal (3 minutes) which can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-rUIpcjIhQ
  3. Mike Tyson Charged with Rape (41 minutes) which can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw7XeJYxQaI
  4. Read the reserve article: Danielle McGuire. “Power to the Ice Pick!” in At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance–A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power.New York: Knopf, 2010.​
  5. Read pages 323-328 of chapter 4 (Violence against Women)
  6. Respond to the discussion post. Deadline: 11:59pm January 21, 2022.

To Do List for the Case Journal:

  1. Watch the “How to Brief a Case Video (9 minutes) which can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11OCdTvPGQw
  2. Brief Commonwealth v. Berkowitz from the Feminist Jurisprudence
  3. Brief Craig v. Boren from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  4. Brief Geduldig v. Aiello from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  5. Brief Michael M v. Superior Court of Sonoma County from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  6. Brief United States v. Virginia from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  7. Submit journal articles. Deadline: 11:59pm January 28th, 2022.

To Do List for the First Quiz (Includes the materials below):

  1. Read pages 28-49 from Chapter 2
  2. Read pages 319-322 of Chapter 4
  3. Read Pauli Murray and the Twentieth-Century Quest for Legal and Social Equality.
  4. Read The Many Lives of Pauli Murray
  5. Watch the online lecture on Pauli Murray.
  6. Submit first quiz. Deadline: 11:59pm February 4, 2022.

Recommended:

  1. Heavy Justice: The State of Indiana v. Michael G. Tyson by J. Gregory Garrison
  2. The Innocence of Joan Little by William Reston
  3. Christina Greene. “’She Ain’t No Rosa Parks’: The Joan Little Rape–Murder Case and Jim Crow Justice in the Post–Civil Rights South.” The Journal of African American History
  4. 100, No. 3, Gendering the Carceral State: African American Women, History, and the Criminal Justice System (Summer 2015), pp. 428-447. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5323/jafriamerhist.100.3.0428?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

To Do List for the Third Discussion Post:

  1. Read pages 352-354; 377-380 of Chapter 4 (Violence Against Women) from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  2. Chapter 2 (The Trafficking of Asian Women) in the Asian American Women: Issues, Concerns and Responsive Human and Civil Rights Advocacy textbook
  3. Watch Sold into the Sex Trade: Mexico’s Stolen Daughters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHKlx5Hfyyc (12 minutes)
  4. Respond to the third discussion post. Deadline: 11:59pm February 11, 2022.

Recommended:

Sarah Deer. Relocation Revisited: Sex Trafficking of Native Women in the United States (March 1, 2010). William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 36, No. 2, 2010; William Mitchell Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2010-06. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1567144 and can be found at: https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1157&context=facsch.

Kamala Harris, The State of Human Trafficking in California, 2012. https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/ht/human-trafficking-2012.pdf

Module 3

Women and Reproduction

Objectives:

  • Study the history of abortion politics and birth control politics in America.
  • Understand the arguments of Latinas and Asian American women for reproductive freedom.
  • Study the impact of forced sterilizations and forced caesareans on poor women of color.
  • Examine the rationales behind landmark Supreme Court rulings on abortion and the right of privacy.

 Read for the Fourth Discussion Post:

  1. This article is on the course reserves page: “’Abortions Under Community Control’: Feminism, Nationalism, and the Politics of Reproduction among New York City’s Young Lords.” In Women of Color and the Reproductive Rights Movement. New York: New York University Press, 2003.
  2. Sexual and Reproductive Freedom for Asian American Women (Chapter 6 from the Asian American Women textbook)
  3. Read “The Story of Madrigal v. Quilligan” (on reserve)
  4. Respond to the fourth discussion post. Deadline: 11:59pm February 18, 2022.

To Do List for the Case Journal:

  1. Harris v. McRae from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  2. Planned Parenthood v. Casey from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  3. Roe v. Wade from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  4. Gonzales v. Carhart from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  5. Jessie Mae Jefferson v. Griffin Spalding County Hospital from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  6. Submit journal articles. Deadline: 11:59pm. February 25, 2022.

 To Do List for the Second Quiz:

  1. Read pages 446-450; 458-467; 512-523 of Chapter 5 (Women and Reproduction)
  2. Watch the online lecture on abortion.
  3. Read pages 763-795 of Chapter 8 (Women and Education)
  4. Submit the second quiz. Deadline: 11:59pm. March 4, 2022.

 Enjoy your spring break during the week of March 6th.

 Module 4

Women, Intimate Relationships, and Family

Objectives:

  • Understand the impact of domestic violence on women of color, undocumented women, and women generally.
  • Identify the arguments for and against same sex marriages.
  • Identify the rationales behind court rulings on same sex marriages.
  • Define and understand “transgressive caregiving,” the problems associated with child care by third parties, “the value of black mothers’ work,” and the “best interest of the child test.”

To Do List for the Fifth Discussion Post:

  1. Read Domestic Violence and Asian American Women (chapter 7 of Asian American Women: Issues, Concerns and Responsive Human and Civil Rights Advocacy textbook)
  2. Pages 591-620 of chapter 6 (Law, Women, and Intimate Relationships)
  3. Pages 717-725 of chapter 7 (Women and Children)
  4. Watch Maria’s Story: Undocumented Violence (13 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p30qFdVgN3c
  5. Watch the Law, Women, and Intimate Relationships online lecture
  6. Respond to the fifth discussion post. Deadline: 11:59pm March 11, 2022.

To Do List for the Case Journal:

  1. S. v. Windsor from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  2. Obergefell v. Hodges from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  3. City of Castle Rock v. Jessica Gonzales from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  4. Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson (on reserve)
  5. Submit journal articles. Deadline: 11:59pm March 18, 2022.

Module 5

Women and Education

Objectives:

  • Study the reasons for the development of affirmative action educational programs.
  • List the arguments for and against single-sex educational institutions.
  • Identify the key Supreme Court rulings on affirmative action education cases since the Bakke
  • Study the impact of (and possible gender bias of) standardized tests of female applicants.
  • Define the impact of Title IX on athletic programs.

 To Do List for the Sixth Discussion Post:

  1. Read 71-81 of Chapter 2 and 741-755 of Chapter 7
  2. Respond to the sixth discussion post. Deadline: 11:59pm. March 25, 2022.

To Do List for the Case Journal:

  1. Gebser v. Lago Vista Independent School District from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  2. Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  3. Gratz v. Bollinger can be found at: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-516.ZO.html
  4. Fisher v. University of Texas can be found at: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-981_4g15.pdf
  5. Watch the online lecture on affirmative action
  6. Submit journal articles. Deadline: 11:59pm April 1, 2022.

Recommended:

  1. Regents of the University of California v. Bakke 438 U.S. 265 (1978).
  2. Grutter v. Bollinger https://www.cir-usa.org/cases/gratz-v-bollinger-grutter-v-bollinger/
  3. Schuett v. BAMN (2014) https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/572/12-682/
  4. SISTERS IN LAW: Black Women Lawyers’ Struggle for Advancement https://digitalcommons.law.msu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1072&context=lr
  5. The Underrepresentation of Women of Color in Law Review Leadership Positions http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1262&context=blrlj
  6. “Where’s the Lawyer”: Latinas in the Legal Industry.
  7. https://www.equalrights.org/wheres-the-lawyer-latinas-in-the-legal-industry/

Module 6

Women and Wage Labor

Objectives:

  • Identify the way in which Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 addresses employment discrimination against women and minorities.
  • Understand the connections between pregnancy and disparate impact.
  • Understand the linkage between sexual harassment and sex discrimination.
  • Identify the difference between quid pro quo and hostile environment harassment.
  • Detail the major U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same sex harassment.

To Do List for the Case Journal:

  1. In re: Carnegie Center Associates from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  2. Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  3. Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  4. Rogers v. American Airlines from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  5. Judge v. Marsh from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  6. Foster v. Dalton from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  7. Submit journal articles. Deadline: 11:59pm. April 8, 2022.

To Do List for the Quiz:

  1. Listen to the online lecture on intersectionality.
  2. Read pages 725-739 of Chapter 7; 841-864 of Chapter 9
  3. Watch the Women and Wage Labor: Employment Discrimination online lecture.
  4. Watch the Sexual Harassment online lecture.
  5. Read “#MeToo was started for black and brown women and girls but they’re still being ignored” by Tarana Burke https://milwaukeetimesnews.com/editorial-commentary-opinion-judgement-review/metoo-was-started-for-black-and-brown-women-and-girls-but-theyre-still-being-ignored
  6. Submit the last quiz. Deadline 11:59pm. April 15, 2022.

To Do List for the Chesterfield Smith Paper:

  1. Read pages 963-984 of Chapter 10 Women and the Legal Profession
  2. Read Marilyn Holifield, Oral History Interview, 2009
  3. Submit the paper. Deadline 11:59pm April 22, 2022.

Recommended:

  1. Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services from the Feminist Jurisprudence textbook
  2. Ellison v. Brady can be found at https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/924/872/224242/
  3. Black Women’s Hair and the Law: When Race and Gender Intersect http://racism.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1554:blackwomenshair&catid=72&Itemid=215
  4. What Not to Wear-Race and Unconscious Welcomeness in Sexual Harassment Law: The Story of Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson. In Women and the Law Stories, edited by Elizabeth M. Schneider and Stephanie M. Wildman. New York: Thomas Reuters/Foundation Press. 2011.
  5. Women of Color and Employment Discrimination: Race and Gender Combined in Title VII Claims http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1262&context=blrlj