The Pig Farmer's Daughter and Other Tales of American Justice: Episodes of Racism and Sexism in the Courts from 1865 to the Present

By Mary Frances Berry

Book Overview

"Sweeping and important.... Provides a fascinating vision of justice and history." -- The Washington Post Book World From the head of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission comes a landmark study of the ways in which prejudice has shaped American justice from the Civil War era to the present. With an ear tuned to the social subtext of every judicial decision, Mary Frances Berry examines a century's worth of appellate cases, ranging from a nineteenth-century Alabama case in which a white woman was denied her divorce petition because an affair between a white man (her husband) and a black woman (his lover) was "of no consequence," to such recent, high-profile cases as the William Kennedy Smith and O.J. Simpson trials. By turns shocking, moving, ironic, and tragic, each tale ends in the laying down of law. And because the law perpetuates myths of race, gender, and class, they are stories that affect the lives of us all.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375707468
• ISBN13: 9780375707469
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Thorough yet disturbing discussion of 'justice'...

While there are probably very few people who think justice is truly blind to race, gender, class and sexual orientation, this look at the courts from Restoration until today is still shocking. The systemic protection of 'white male privilege' has made it impossible for just about anyone and everyone to get a fair trial. And throughout this book Berry argues convincingly, logically, simply and clearly why this has been the case.Berry's thesis is that the court - through judges' decisions and verdicts - uphold the prevailing 'stories' of the day, explaining why some black men - under the protection of white male privilege - were punished less harshly than others. Or why black men were so quickly and easily convicted of raping white women, or why it was considered pretty much impossible to rape a black woman or a poor white one. And on and on and on... According to Berry, judges would twist the understanding of statutes and laws to conform to and support the stories. When, after WWII, stories began to change, the different attitudes and ideas were reflected in court decisions, and Brown vs. the Board of Education, Roe vs. Wade, and other cases were possible.Berry certainly creates a very compelling case, showing the effects of these 'stories,' the efforts to change them and the ensuing results. Although I do believe that other elements - even, as the Supreme Court illustrated so clearly during the election fiasco, personal ideology - play a role, I still think that Berry is describing a very powerful phenonmenon. And Berry's evidence of a strong bias in the courts is something every American should know about. In fact, I think this should be mandatory reading for pretty much everybody.

An eloquent exposition.

The "Pig Farmer's Daughter" is a stalwart exposition describing the fault line of bigotry, and bias that runs through the historical bedrock of the American judicial system. Berry offers a seamless narrative, written eloquently and without malice. Her book is an irrefutable unveiling of the ignorance that so often poses as the truth of popular culture. What is so ironic is that the players she exposes were and are supposed to be the very people who are without bias. Everyone and anyone who has a desire to understand racism and sexism in this country needs to read this book. No lawyer or judge serious about racial justice should enter a courtroom without having read it.