{"product_id":"reimagining-equality-isbn-9780807014431","title":"Reimagining Equality","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA searing portrait “of the ways in which black men and women have struggled to surmount injustice to own homes”—from the heroic lawyer who spoke out against Clarence Thomas (\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In this “highly readable and deeply analytical” work, attorney Anita Hill examines the relationship between home ownership and the American Dream through the lens of race and gender (\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e). Through the stories of remarkable African American women—including her own great-great-grandmother, playwright Lorraine Hansberry, and Baltimore beauty-shop owner and housing-crisis survivor Anjanette Booker—she demonstrates that the inclusive democracy our Constitution promises must be conceived with home in mind. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e From slavery to the Great Migration to the subprime mortgage meltdown, \u003ci\u003eReimagining Equality \u003c\/i\u003etakes us on a journey that sparks a new conversation about what it means to be at home in America and presents concrete proposals that encourage us to reimagine equality.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eContents\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter One:\u003c\/b\u003e Home: Survival and the Land\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Two:\u003c\/b\u003e Belonging to the New Land\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Three:\u003c\/b\u003e Gender and Race at Home in America\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Four:\u003c\/b\u003e Lorraine’s Vision: A Better Place to Live\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Five:\u003c\/b\u003e Blame It on the Sun\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Six:\u003c\/b\u003e Lessons from a Survivor: Anjanette’s Story\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Seven:\u003c\/b\u003e Home in Crisis: Americans on the Outside of the Dream\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Eight:\u003c\/b\u003e Home at Last: Toward an Inclusive Democracy\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003eIndex\u003c\/b\u003e“An eloquent continuation of her giving voice to the invisible, the voiceless, the undocumented, the hopeless and, yes, the all too literally homeless.” —Patricia J. Williams, \u003ci\u003eThe Nation\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This ambitious book provides just as dignified and well intentioned a performance as the one she gave at those hearings.” —Megan Buskey, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Hill superbly articulates the nuanced spaces inside the home where gender inequities might be present, and outside the home where gender and race disparities create barriers to housing stability. She concludes with a call to US leaders and citizenry to proactively engage as partners for a more just society. \u003cb\u003eSumming Up\u003c\/b\u003e: Recommended. All academic levels\/libraries.”—\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Serious readers of all kinds, especially those interested in current affairs and  social policy, will appreciate a book that is both highly readable and deeply  analytical.”—\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In the first sweeping history of Parks’s life, Theoharis shows us a long-time activist committed to fighting white supremacy from her earliest days. From underground investigations of white-on-black rapes in rural Alabama, where no law respected or protected black people, to her work alongside Robert Williams, Malcolm X, and Queen Mother Moore, Rosa Parks not only sat down on the bus; she stood on the right side of justice for her entire life.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003eJulian Bond, chairman emeritus, NAACP\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“With  extraordinary grace and clarity, Anita Hill weaves the story of her family with  that of other American families struggling to find and define homes for  themselves. What emerges is a powerful story of our nation’s ongoing quest for  equality of opportunity, viewed through the eyes of the people who have been  deeply engaged in that quest. Beautifully written, elegantly seen, compellingly  argued.”—Robert  B. Reich, author of \u003ci\u003eAftershock\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“It has taken an astute author to find the real Rosa Parks. . . . Parks was no accidental heroine. She was born to it, and Theoharis ably shows us how and why\" —\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Her book, lucid about  law, lively with smatterings of history and reminders of cultural markers, may  open that conversation.”—\u003ci\u003ePublisher's Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Combining the  sincerity of memoir and the rigor of sociology, Anita Hill looks at home as a  physical space, but also as a microcosm of American society. The women profiled  in this engaging and moving book illustrate the challenges of living in  America as a raced and gendered  person while simultaneously demonstrating the beauty of resistance and the  triumphs of family, community, and faith. Hill connects the dots between the  home-making efforts of African Americans just after Reconstruction and the  heartbreaking (and enraging) consequences of the subprime mortgage scandal.  After reading this book, you will never see a house as just four walls and a  roof. It is a dream and we, as Americans, are the dreamers.”—Tayari  Jones, author of \u003ci\u003eSilver  Sparrow\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Anita Hill’s bravery,  intellect and commitment to justice galvanized a generation of women. If that  weren’t enough, it turns out she’s also a wonderful story-teller. \u003ci\u003eRe-Imagining Equality\u003c\/i\u003e will change your  ideas about home, race and gender—\u003ci\u003eand \u003c\/i\u003eit’s also great fun to read.”—Peggy  Orenstein, author, \u003ci\u003eCinderella Ate My  Daughter\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In  a book that is rigorous and heartfelt, sharply analytical and deeply moving,  Anita Hill examines the idea of what 'home' means to Americans. Bringing to bear  her formidable skills as a scholar of American law, history, and culture, Hill  has produced a personal narrative that reaches across color and class to explore  how our family homes and our national home are inextricably linked to how we  understand achievement, opportunity, and equality.\"—Henry  Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In  her new book, \u003ci\u003eReimagining Equality: Stories  of Race, Gender, and Finding Home\u003c\/i\u003e, Professor Anita Hill has written a  sobering and compelling book about the plight of woman historically and now.  This book is a must read for anyone who is committed to gender equality, and  will be invaluable to those who are trying to understand many of the burdens  that women, black and white face, in their everyday  lives. An  easy read, this book has both tragic and triumphant stories and covers the life  of women through slavery, and those who now live in the Obama era. They remind  us that we still have to come to grips with issues of race and gender, and that  we need to re-imagine the question of equality for all. I recommend it with  great enthusiasm and excitement about its value to a large audience of  readers.”—Professor  Charles J. Ogletree Jr., author of \u003ci\u003eThe  Presumption of Guilt: The Arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Race, Class, and  Crime in America\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAnita Hill \u003c\/b\u003eis a professor of social policy, law, and women’s studies at Brandeis University. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eSpeaking Truth to Power\u003c\/i\u003e, in which she detailed her experience as a witness in Clarence Thomas’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Home: The place of one’s dwelling or nurturing, with the conditions,\u003cbr\u003ecircumstances, and feelings which naturally attach to it and\u003cbr\u003eare associated with it . . . not merely 'place' but also 'state.'\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Oxford English Dictionary\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is a book about home.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs  the first decade of the new millennium came to a close, the country was  still reeling from a housing crisis that caused both physical and  psychological distress. The centrality of home to individuals of all  stripes was never more apparent. Millions of Americans, male and female,  of all races, had been set adrift as a result of reckless personal and  institutional financial behavior, the precipitous decline of  manufacturing industries, and in the case of Hurricane Katrina, an  unprecedented natural disaster. And whether as a place or as a state of  being, the significance of home to neighborhood, city, and national  well-being was becoming clear. Moreover, the crisis raised questions  about whether our country is indeed a welcoming location of endless  possibility to those seeking the American Dream. Our national identity  was being challenged by the home ownership crisis.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMany have lost  faith in homeownership, a bedrock of the American Dream. This loss is  further complicated by the role of the home in defining equality and  democracy—a role that is often overlooked, even though where one lives  determines school assignments, voting opportunities, and often the  availability of jobs, goods, and services. Yet little attention is paid  to the complicated interrelationship between where one calls home, what  happens inside the home, and equality outside the home.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI plan to  examine home as a place and a state of being by interweaving  discussions of law, literature, and culture with stories of individuals,  focusing on women, and African Americans, in search of equality. These  stories reflect each woman’s experience in finding and shaping a home  where she could achieve some measure of equality for herself and her  family. Beginning with my own story, I invite readers to think about  their experiences and yearning for home, even as they read of others  whose experiences are different but who share a desire to be equal  participants in our democracy. The women featured and I have learned  over the course of our lives that home, as well as equality, need to be  reconceived as our worlds change.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese stories of gender, race,  and finding home guide us through a history of imagining and reimagining  equality. They also address issues that have long been neglected in  this country but must be grappled with in order to ensure that every  American has the opportunity to achieve the sense of belonging that  comes from being at home. As black women have come to head the majority  of black households, they have become the primary “homebuilders.” They  have also become dominant forces as community builders in African  American neighborhoods. Their determination to build their lives, their  families, and their communities, despite harsh perceptions of them, is  evidence of their belief in the promise of America, even in times when  that promise may seem irreparably broken. Their struggle points to an  important lesson: we may have reached the limits of current rights  legislation’s ability to assure liberty and equality for all. For these  women and others who have yet to be perfectly at home in our nation, we  need to find other strategies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBlack women know what it means  physically, socially, and economically to possess a gender and a race.  They know that race and gender equality must both be realized if either  is to be achieved. Like other women, they struggle to balance work and  family obligations, and they suffer from violence in their homes and on  the streets of their communities. Along with African American men in  many racially isolated neighborhoods, they endure crime, inadequate  schools, and a lack of public and private amenities. With all women and  black men, they face limited employment and educational opportunities,  as well as underrepresentation in political arenas. We have passed many  laws to try to address these inequities, to level the playing field, and  yet we have not finished the work. They struggle, as millions do, to  find home in America.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow one conceives of home is deeply  personal. As the poet T. S. Eliot wrote, “Home is where one starts  from.” For me, home is inextricably linked to the story of how my  family, in one generation, went from being property to owning property.  In the first two chapters, I will explore the beginnings of the meaning I  give to home by tracing the path that three generations of my family  took to leave behind slavery and its vestiges. Their journeys kept them  searching for an attachment to the land, their symbol of survival and  belonging.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMollie Elliott, one of my maternal great-grandmothers,  was seventeen years old and a slave in 1864, when she gave birth to my  maternal grandfather in Little River County, Arkansas. That son, Henry  Elliott, went on to homestead eighty acres of land at the turn of the  century, only to lose them. Nevertheless, he and his wife, Ida, summoned  the courage to move, along with seven of their children, to Oklahoma.  They settled very near the farm on which I and my twelve siblings were  raised by Erma, their youngest daughter, and her husband, Albert Hill.  From the bucolic vantage point of the small, rural community of Lone  Tree, our family experienced sweeping social change—from Jim Crow to the  civil rights era. My parents remained on the farm well into the 1990s,  beyond the time when many Americans had left rural life for a more  promising, urban existence. But being well into their sixties by the  time the law’s protections began to take hold, they saw the promises of  equality not so much for change in their lives, but for the potential to  transform the lives of their children. In particular, the advances  ushered in by the civil rights and women’s rights movements offered  women born in the 1950s and ’60s the kind of independence that Erma Hill  could never fully imagine, much less realize. But this much she knew:  neither the land, nor a house full of children, nor even a husband would  define the place or the state of her daughter’s home.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith the  rights movements, my path to equality followed an entirely different  trajectory from my mother’s. Yet in 1973, Erma Hill approached my  departure for college with optimism and with little thought of the  challenges inherent in imagining a life not only outside rural confines,  but also without the constraints of overt discrimination. And why not?  The country was on the verge of a new day. A generation of children was  making its way into the world to live out America’s promise of equality,  and she would enjoy a front-row seat knowing that she had prepared me  to be a part of it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs personal as the concept of home is, within  its contours are principles with universal application. In chapter 3, I  explore the history of how home became a preponderant symbol of race  and gender advancement in the United States, simultaneously denoting  belonging and independence. In 1776, likening the tyranny of husbands in  the home to the tyranny of King George over the colonies, Abigail Adams  implored her husband, John, to “Remember the Ladies” by including  protections for them in the “new Code of Laws.” At the turn of the  twentieth century, the African American leader Booker T. Washington  urged fellow former slaves to abandon the “hovel” and establish  respectable homes as evidence that they had earned the right to be  recognized as citizens. Washington’s contemporary Nannie Helen Burroughs  established a school for workingclass African American girls, using the  home as the foundation for their intellectual and economic enterprises.  Renouncing both gender and race subservience, she encouraged her  students to be wage earners and “professional” homemakers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo  Adams, Washington, and Burroughs, home stood as a reference point from  which equality and civic and economic participation sprang. Piercing the  veil between the public and private spheres, Adams imagined women’s  equality as safety at home, which could be secured only by recognition  in the Constitution. For Washington, African Americans’ citizenship  would emanate from their ability to establish homes that would affirm  them as neighbors in the word’s fullest and most meaningful sense. The  keys to Washington’s ideas for equality were community and  interconnectedness. In Burroughs’s vision, the economic recognition of  work that women did in the home rightly established their social and  political worth outside the home. In a society dominated by men,  Burroughs saw and advocated the dignity and value in women’s  contributions and in women themselves. Home, a critical component of the  American Dream, was at the heart of the quest for an inclusive  democracy as pursued by women and people of color.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThrough the  stories of Adams, Washington, Burroughs, and others, I hope to show how  home became a positive symbol of advancement. Advocates of equality took  a concept that had represented gender and racial oppression and  transformed it into a means of empowerment. Eighteenthand  nineteenth-century activists argued that liberation required society to  reimagine the home, and that the freedom to choose where and how one  lives was a vital component of a free society. Moreover, they laid the  groundwork for aligning the interests of women and blacks with those of  the entire society. Their ideas and their work would take root and  develop into twentieth-century migration patterns and equal rights  movements.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNothing better represents the twisted path to racial  and gender equality in America than the search for home as a place of  refuge, financial security, and expression. At the end of the Civil War  and well into the twentieth century, for African American families, the  search for roots that had been lost to slavery became a search for land,  a place where they could earn a living and escape the vestiges of  bondage and the brutality of Jim Crow laws. Beginning in about 1915,  during what is known in American history as the Great Migration, black  men and women began to leave the rural South and make their way to  northern industrial cities to find work and a new home. Despite racial  restrictions in the North, the bright lines drawn by segregationists  were starting to blur. Black women who were domestic workers started to  form enclaves in rental housing in affluent neighborhoods. As the number  of blacks in the North grew, the demand for housing began to exceed the  supply of homes unencumbered by racially restrictive covenants. The  idea of challenging those covenants by buying homes in white  neighborhoods took hold; purchasing a home in a racially restricted  neighborhood became a symbol of racial equality, a way for blacks to  realize the desire of all Americans to find a place to belong.  Litigation in the 1930s and forms of civil resistance to discrimination  ultimately led Congress to pass equality-promising, antidiscrimination  legislation in the 1960s.","brand":"Beacon Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300719972581,"sku":"NP9780807014431","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780807014431.jpg?v=1767735586","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/reimagining-equality-isbn-9780807014431","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}