| Law Touched Our Hearts What Brown did was to elevate race from the country's dirty secret to its most urgent topic of conversation. This book stands alone in presenting, in one source, stories of black and white Americans, men and women, from all parts of the nation, who were public school students during the years immediately after Brown . All shared an epiphany. Some became aware of race and the burden of racial separation. Others dared to hope that the yoke of racial oppression would at last be lifted. The editors surveyed 4750 law professors born between 1936 and 1954, received 1000 responses, and derived these forty essays from those willing to write personal accounts of their childhood experiences in the classroom and in their communities. Their moving stories of how Brown affected them say much about race relations then and now. They also provide a picture of how social change can shape the careers of an entire generation in one profession. Contributors provide accounts from across the nation. Represented are Mildred Wigfall Robinson was in the fourth grade in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, when Brown v. Board was decided. She received her elementary and secondary education in the state's schools, which remained segregated, then graduated from Fisk University. She is Henry L. & Grace Doherty Charitable Foundation Professor, University of Virginia School of Law. Richard J. Bonnie was in the eighth grade in Norfolk, Virginia, when the public schools were closed to resist the Supreme Court's decision in Brown. He is Harrison Foundation Professor of Medicine and Law, Hunton & Williams Research Professor, and Director, Institute of Law, Psychiatry & Public Policy at the University of Virginia. |