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<\/a>Green interviewed African American graduates and faculty members to produce a chronicle of their accomplishments and of the challenges and resistance they faced. Their narratives, combined with historical material from the law library archives, reveal the controversies around minority student recruitment, the development of the Black Law Students Association, and the struggles of individual students in the face of racial hostility.<\/p>\nAfrican American students, often working through BLSA, organized trips to recruit students from historically black colleges, established a legal clinic in Hartford, sponsored study groups, held panel discussions and other events for the entire law school community, and advocated on behalf of all minority students. BLSA is now one of the most established student organizations on campus and its Night of Inspiration is a premiere annual event at the law school.<\/p>\n
African American faculty members\u2014starting with the first, civil rights lawyer John Brittain\u2014described their own challenges. They joined the effort to recruit and retain minority professors while reaching out to support BLSA and minority students.<\/p>\n
The book concludes with a chapter by Karen DeMeola, assistant dean for finance, administration and enrollment at UConn Law. She wrote about the recent history of students of color at the law school and about the work that remains to be done. \u201cThere are no easy answers for how to eliminate injustices or how to increase racial diversity at the law school,\u201d she wrote, \u201cbut this is no question of giving up.\u201d<\/p>\n
An appendix contains short biographies of 60 prominent African American graduates, many of whom became judges, law firm partners, prosecutors, professors, legislators and business and community leaders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis book recounts a crucial chapter in our school\u2019s history, while highlighting the accomplishments of a brave and tremendously accomplished group of our graduates,\u201d Dean Timothy Fisher said. \u201cWe are grateful to Connie Green for this great work, and for its contribution to building our identity as a community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The book is available as an online PDF at law.uconn.edu\/stillwerise<\/a>. A limited number of printed copies will be distributed to alumni as long as the supply lasts. Send your name and postal address to stillwerise@uconn.edu<\/a> before the end of September.<\/p>\n