Law Commons^™

This article critically examines how elite lawyers built and defended the legal framework for White Supremacy in the Deep South both before and after Brown v. Board of Education. Although turn of the century commentators freely discussed how lawyers blocked African Americans' access to the ballot box, time has largely obliterated that story from our profession's memory. Some recent legal commentators have discussed post-Brown massive resistance, but few have specifically considered the role of lawyers qua lawyers in that movement. In contrast, this article analytically connects these eras to a decades-long program of legal work dedicated to defending and attempting …