Kate Masur is professor of history at Northwestern University. A finalist for the Lincoln Prize, she is the author of An Example for All the Land: Emancipation and the Struggle over Equality in Washington, D.C.
Kate Masur's masterpiece is an extraordinary contribution to our understanding of the central role of African Americans in conceiving American democracy. -- Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of Race for Profit In this brilliant book, Kate Masur widens and deepens our understanding of the long struggle against racism throughout the United States. -- Alan Taylor, author of Thomas Jefferson's Education Kate Masur's Until Justice Be Done is a masterpiece of scope, insight, and graceful writing about the central question in the making, unmaking, and remaking of an American democracy. This is a book we will read and conjure with for a long time. -- David W. Blight, author of Frederick Douglass A tour de force: Until Justice Be Done is the eloquent and essential story of what the first civil rights movement achieved, and what it left for later generations to do. -- W. Caleb McDaniel, author of Sweet Taste of Liberty A magnificent contribution to the history of antiracism in America. -- Randall Kennedy, author of For Discrimination Kate Masur's sobering and inspiring history of the 'first civil rights movement' could not be more timely. -- Steven Hahn, author of A Nation Under Our Feet [A] tour de force of scholarship and lucid analysis. -- James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom Until Justice Be Done tells the origin story of one of the most important and often-misunderstood ideas in American law and politics: racial equality before the law. It is a brilliant book. -- Dylan C. Penningroth, author of The Claims of Kinfolk In our current moment, as we imagine paths forward for American democracy, Kate Masur's revelatory book is essential reading. -- Daniel J. Sharfstein, author of Thunder in the Mountains [I]lluminating history...This engrossing study goes beyond sectionalist accounts of the South's peculiar institution to show how racism and civil rights activism have shaped every corner of America. -- Publishers Weekly A fine history of the first phase of the nation's most enduring moral reform effort. -- Kirkus Reviews