Vol. 4 No. 10 (October, 1994) pp. 140-141

CRUSADERS IN THE COURTS by Jack Greenberg. New York: Basic Books, 1994. 634 pp. $30.00.

Reviewed by David Fellman (University of Wisconsin, Emeritus)

This excellent book was published on May 17, 1994, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's land-mark decision in BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION. The book carries the sub-title, "How a Dedicated Band of Lawyers Fought for the Civil Rights Revolution," and it was written by Jack Greenberg, who was a principal architect of that revolution. This book is a detailed history of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP] Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). A twenty-four year old lawyer just out of law school, when he joined the LDF staff, Greenberg succeeded Thurgood Marshall as director-counsel in 1961, and thus was the key figure in LDF for thirty-five years. The determination to take the fight for equal civil rights to the courts was based on recognition of the fact that, lacking the power to vote, Afro-Americans found the political branches of government, state and national, closed to them. As Greenberg writes, "going to court offered the only avenue of reform with any real prospect of success." After leaving LDF, Greenberg joined the faculty of the Columbia Law School.

LDF was established in 1909, and was incorporated as a body separate from NAACP, though it retained the initials. LDF has operated under its own board of directors, and raises and budgets funds independently of NAACP. In fact, the use of these initials by LDF was frequently challenged, and rather recently was the subject of litigation. LDF raises its own funds, chiefly through grants from foundations, as well as donations by individuals.

The first director of LDF, and its guiding personality, was Thurgood Marshall, who was selected director-counsel in 1939. When Marshall was appointed to a federal judgeship in 1961, Greenberg succeeded him, and served as director-counsel until 1984. He recalls that when a member of the board asked Marshall, "won't they say the Jews are running everything?" Marshall replied, "Anyone who would say that would say it no matter who was selected."

LDF grew steadily from humble beginnings in size of staff, scope and complexity of program, and income. Thus, when Greenberg became director-counsel in 1961, LDF's income was $586,421; by 1970 its annual income was $4.3 million, and by 1980 its annual income was $6.3 million. Including a large number of cooperating lawyers, LDF is the equivalent of a very large law firm. This book is mainly designed to tell in considerable detail the story of the great constitutional law cases which gradually expanded the scope of equal rights for African- Americans. Even so, Greenberg also reviews a great deal of political and social history, dealing with the enactment of seminal statutes, and such important events as the Montgomery bus boycott, problems in the careers of Joe Louis and Mohammed Ali, the freedom rides, Martin Luther King's war on poverty, the struggle over the confirmation of

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Judges Haynesworth and Carswell to the Supreme Court, and the election of African-Americans to state and federal offices. Greenberg shows how political events and litigation impacted upon each other.

Greenberg is an excellent writer, and he must have a phenomenal memory as well as well-preserved files, for the book is full of interesting details regarding specific events and personalities. The amount of detail calls attention to events not generally known or long forgotten which only a talented insider can recount. For example, Greenberg reminds us that in the school segregation litigation of 1954, the chief counsel for South Carolina who argued the case for the southern states was John W. Davis, a patrician leader of the New York bar and Democratic candidate for the presidency in 1924. He noted that Mr. Davis "refused to take a fee from the state of South Carolina and in lieu of payment Governor Byrnes sent him a silver tea set, which was displayed in the law firm's library." This book is full of references to items of history that are not generally known, which a well-informed insider seemed to delight to relate, often in a spirit of sly humor.

Of course, the land-mark decisions on the road to desegregation are fully reviewed, with due attention paid to the historical background, the strategy adopted by counsel, the course of oral argument in court, and the impact of many personal qualities of the principal actors involved. This is a lively book, very well stocked with telling events that illustrate the progress of litigation. I am sure that I have not read all the books that deal with the subject of the struggle for equal rights, but of those with which I am familiar, this book stands out as one of the very best. Certainly teachers of American government and public law subjects should read it. In addition, the text is supported by many pages of notes, and is strengthened with an exhaustive and usable index.

In sum, a small group of talented lawyers carried on a determined campaign in the courts to put some flesh on the bare bones of textual constitutional guarantees. What they accomplished made a difference in our history, and the story of their accomplishments is told in this big readable book by an accomplished participant.