Synopses & Reviews
I would have climbed up a mountain to get on the list [to serve overseas]. We were going to do our duty. Despite all the bad things that happened, America was our home. This is where I was born. It was where my mother and father were. There was a feeling of wanting to do your part.
--Gladys Carter, member of the 6888th
To Serve My Country, to Serve my Race is the story of the historic 6888th, the first United States Women's Army Corps unit composed of African-American women to serve overseas.
While African-American men and white women were invited, if belatedly, to serve their country abroad, African-American women were excluded for overseas duty throughout most of WWII. Under political pressure from legislators like Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., the NAACP, the black press, and even President Roosevelt, the U.S. War Department was forced to deploy African-American women to the European theater in 1945.
African-American women, having succeeded, through their own activism and political ties, in their quest to shape their own lives, answered the call from all over the country, from every socioeconomic stratum. Stationed in France and England at the end of World War II, the 6888th brought together women like Mary Daniel Williams, a cook in the 6888th who signed up for the Army to escape the slums of Cleveland and to improve her ninth-grade education, and Margaret Barnes Jones, a public relations officer of the 6888th, who grew up in a comfortable household with a politically active mother who encouraged her to challenge the system.
Despite the social, political, and economic restrictions imposed upon these African-American women in their own country, they were eager to serve, not only out of patriotism but out of a desire to uplift their race and dispell bigoted preconceptions about their abilities. Elaine Bennett, a First Sergeant in the 6888th, joined because "I wanted to prove to myself and maybe to the world that we would give what we had back to the United States as a confirmation that we were full- fledged citizens."
Filled with compelling personal testimony based on extensive interviews, To Serve My Country is the first book to document the lives of these courageous pioneers. It reveals how their Army experience affected them for the rest of their lives and how they, in turn, transformed the U.S. military forever.
Review
"Drawing on the testimony of former members of the unit, Moore recounts its formation, training and service in the European theater of operations in 1945-46, highlighting the discrimination women faced because of their race and gender. . . . An important contribution to African American and gender studies . . . " - Publishers Weekly
Review
"A rich, comprehensive study." - Philadelphia New Observer
Review
"Moore has made an incredible discovery. This book will be a major contribution to military studies, African American studies, and women's studies."
"Drawing on the testimony of former members of the unit, Moore recounts its formation, training and service in the European theater of operations in 1945-46, highlighting the discrimination women faced because of their race and gender. . . . An important contribution to African American and gender studies . . . "
"A rich, comprehensive study."
"This work fills the void that has been created by scholars of military institutions. It represents an original analysis of the experience of women of African descent who served their country in the Women's Army Corps during World War II. Her robust analysis of their feelings, motivations and experience within the military provides the reader with a moving tale of accomplishments of black women during a critical point in the history of the country. Professor Moore's separation of race and gender effects in the book is excellent, and brings out the fact that women of African descent must be seen in their own historical light if one is to understand their unique history. This book makes a significant contribution to military sociology, gender studies, American studies, and race and ethnic relations."
"A fascinating account of black women in the armed forces in World War II. We are indebted to Brenda Moore for recording this story while these women are still with us. Moore gives powerful new insights for African American studies, gender studies, and military history."
Review
"A fascinating account of black women in the armed forces in World War II. We are indebted to Brenda Moore for recording this story while these women are still with us. Moore gives powerful new insights for African American studies, gender studies, and military history." - Charles Moskos, Professor of Sociology, Northwestern University
Review
"[T]his is a good example of what can be done with critical theory."-CHOICE,
Review
"The book manifests a unique perspective on tort law that is well-explained and carefully developed, and it is one of the best written books on critical legal theory that I have read . . . "-Michelle D. Deardorff,Law and Politics Book Review
Review
“What kind of harms matter, and why? Steeped in the history of American tort law, Chamallas and Wriggins demonstrate how attitudes about race and gender run through the harms recognized—and not recognized—by American law. This book is brimming with insights about how societies do and should express what matters in assigning liability for human pain and loss.”
-Martha Minow,Dean of the Faculty of Law, Harvard Law School
Review
“This book asks important questions about the tort system.
Review
“Though one would barely know it from the law school casebooks, the American law of torts has been deeply shaped by race and gender. Chamallas and Wriggins have revealed heretofore unknown features in the plate tectonics oftort law. Their book should usher in a new era in the study of race and gender in the field.”
-John Fabian Witt,Yale Law School
Synopsis
The story of the historic 6888th, the first United States Women's Army Corps unit of African American women to serve overseas
While African American men and white women were invited, if belatedly, to serve their country abroad, African American women were excluded for overseas duty throughout most of WWII. However, under political pressure from legislators like Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., the NAACP, the Black press, and even President Roosevelt, the US War Department was forced to deploy African American women to the European theater in 1945.
African American women answered the call to serve from all over the country, from every socioeconomic stratum. Stationed in France and England at the end of World War II, the 6888th brought together women like Mary Daniel Williams, a cook in the unit who signed up for the Army to escape the slums of Cleveland and to improve her ninth-grade education, and Margaret Barnes Jones, the unit's public relations officer, who grew up in a comfortable household with a politically active mother who encouraged her to challenge the system.
Despite the social, political, and economic restrictions imposed upon these women in their own country, they were eager to serve, not only out of patriotism but out of a desire to uplift their race and dispel bigoted preconceptions about their abilities. Elaine Bennett, a First Sergeant, joined because "I wanted to prove to myself and maybe to the world that we would give what we had back to the United States as a confirmation that we were full- fledged citizens."
Filled with compelling personal stories based on extensive interviews, To Serve My Country, To Serve My Race is the first book to document the lives of these courageous pioneers. It reveals how their Army experience affected them for the rest of their lives and how they, in turn, transformed the US military forever.
Synopsis
Tort law is the body of law governing negligence, intentional misconduct, and other wrongful acts for which civil actions can be brought. The conventional wisdom is that the rules, concepts, and structures of tort law are neutral and unbiased, free of considerations of gender and race.
In The Measure of Injury, Martha Chamallas and Jennifer Wriggins prove that tort law is anything but gender and race neutral. Drawing on an in-depth analysis of case law ranging from the Jim Crow South to the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, the authors demonstrate that women and minorities have been under-compensated in tort law and that traditional biases have resurfaced in updated forms to perpetuate patterns of disparate recovery based on race and gender. Grappling with tort theory, the intricacies of legal doctrine and the practical effects of legal rules, The Measure of Injury is a unique treatise on torts that uncovers the public and cultural dimensions of this always-controversial domain of private law.
About the Author
Martha Chamallas is the Robert J. Lynn Chair in Law at the Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law and the author of
Introduction to Feminist Legal Theory.
Jennifer B. Wriggins is the Sumner T. Bernstein Professor of Law at the University of Maine School of Law.