Book Excerpt! To Fulfill These Rights, by Amaka Okechukwu

“I learned something new and interesting on nearly every page. This is an excellent empirical engagement with affirmative action. Amaka Okechukwu’s updated racial formation theory is smart, compelling, and engaging.”

~Ellen Berrey, author of The Enigma of Diversity: The Language of Race and the Limits of Racial Justice

In the 1960s and 1970s, widespread campus protest by Black and Latino students contributed to the development of affirmative action and open admissions policies. Yet in the decades since, affirmative action has become a magnet for conservative backlash and in many cases has been completely dismantled. This issue is at the core of Amaka Okechukwu’s To Fulfill These Rights: Political Struggle Over Affirmative Action and Open Admissions. Read the introduction to this work for an overview of affirmative action in higher education and for a detailed explanation of key concepts to better understand the social movement.