Wherever There’s a Fight captures the sweeping story of how freedom and equality have grown in California, from the gold rush right up to the precarious post-9/11 era. The book tells the stories of the brave individuals who have stood up for their rights in the face of social hostility, physical violence, economic hardship, and political stonewalling. It connects the experiences of early Chinese immigrants subjected to discriminatory laws to those of professionals who challenged McCarthyism and those of people who have fought to gain equal rights in California schools: people of color, people with disabilities, and people standing up for their religious freedom. The authors bring a special focus to the World War II internment of Japanese Americans, focusing on the infamous Korematsu case, which was foreshadowed by a century of civil liberties violations and reverberates in more recent times—regrettably, even today in the Patriot Act. And they follow the ongoing struggles for workers’ rights and same-sex marriage. State and federal constitutions spell out many liberties and rights, but it is the people who challenge prejudice and discrimination that transform those lofty ideals into practical realities. Wherever There’s a Fight paints vivid portraits of these people and brings to light their often hidden stories.

Wherever There's a Fight: How Runaway Slaves, Suffragists, Immigrants, Strikers, and Poets Shaped Civil Liberties in California

Elinson, Elaine

Reference

Heyday

Ten years after the initial publication of the first-ever account of the struggle to develop and protect social justice in a bellwether state, the award-winning Wherever There’s a Fight is as relevant as ever for “navigating the slogan-riddled civil rights issues of the day” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). ACLU veterans Elaine Elinson and Stan Yogi tell the sweeping story of how freedom and equality have grown in California, from the gold rush right up to the precarious post-9/11 era, despite waves of fear, bigotry, exploitation, and ignorance. The swiftly paced yet detailed narrative covers many disparate struggles for equity, but from each case a pattern emerges: whether fighting for workers’ free speech rights, protesting the Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage, asserting the right of people with disabilities, or challenging race- and ethnicity-based legislation, it is Californians themselves who transform lofty ideals into practical realities through activism and legal action. Wherever There’s a Fight paints vivid portraits of these change makers, from well-known figures like Fred Korematsu and Dolores Huerta to people who in this book finally receive the attention they deserve; and it shows how these pushes for progress have reverberated far beyond the Golden State.

Wherever There's a Fight, 10th Anniversary Edition: How Runaway Slaves, Suffragists, Immigrants, Strikers, and Poets Shaped Civil Liberties in California

History

Yogi, Stan

Americas

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Books by Elinson, Elaine