Doctoral Dissertation Research: "Civil Rights and the Politics of Race in Britain, 1948-1968"

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the relationship between civil rights, liberalism and the politics of race in Britain between 1948 and 1968, a period that witnessed profound transformations in popular and legal definitions of civil rights, and in anti-racist political mobilization. It will address two questions related to the historical evolution of liberal though and the philosophical bases of Anglo-American legal practice. First, how were the unstable boundaries between state and society demarcated along the lines of race after1945, when advocates of minority concerns increasingly defined civil rights in terms of the state's responsibility to prevent discrimination in the private sector? Second, how did members of both anti-racist organizations and the legal profession assess the efficacy of working within liberal and egalitarian framework to advance minority concerns? The project focuses largely on the relationship between the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), an organization with a central role in Britain's civil rights history, and numerous organizations mobilized specifically around anti-racism. The data consists of original documents associated with the history of these organizations, including materials associated with discrimination suits, newsletters, and other public records and reports. The questions addressed by this project are relevant to understanding the historical development of current debates in Britain over the possible enactment of a bill of rights modeled on that of the United States and by current debates surrounding affirmative actions in the United States.