Slave Artists as Powerful Reality Creators: Taking Responsibility and Rejecting Race Consciousness

Thurgood Marshall Law Review, Vol. 33, No. 1, 2008

32 Pages Posted: 26 Feb 2009 Last revised: 19 Feb 2010

Date Written: February 25, 2009

Abstract

This article critiques the race conscious thinking inherent in Critical Race Theory ("CRT") and offers an alternative to structuralism and determinism. It reviews the colonial origins of race consciousness, and argues that advocating race conscious remedies perpetuates the very racism CRT decries. The article focuses on powerful reality creators of the past to create a more empowering framework of individual responsibility and personal reality construction. The article makes a case study of David Drake, a slave potter from 1800s South Carolina. Slave artists like David Drake show us that, no matter how strong the forces of oppression, a marginalized individual has the authority and power to decide who he or she becomes.

Keywords: critical race theory, critical legal studies

Suggested Citation

Alderman, Kimberly, Slave Artists as Powerful Reality Creators: Taking Responsibility and Rejecting Race Consciousness (February 25, 2009). Thurgood Marshall Law Review, Vol. 33, No. 1, 2008, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1349177

Kimberly Alderman (Contact Author)

The Alderman Law Firm ( email )

PO Box 2001
215 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd
Madison, WI 53701
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.aldermanlawfirm.com

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