Love and Civil Rights

Despite western legal scholars' almost universal rejection of the use of emotions in legal analysis, the unquestionable greatest social activist and grassroots legal reformer of our times, and perhaps one of the greatest in the annals of time, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, understood a basic yet profound fact concerning societal change - the transformative power of love. During the era where he achieved the greatest influence, Dr. King knew that societal-wide change could not occur without transforming the American psyche on the basic fairness of the civil rights struggle. This civil rights struggle, which is now so closely associated with King's proper place in history, occurred through victories in both our federal courts and through federal legislation. Arguably, the most important and influential victories of the era's struggle is the nationwide legislative victory of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and Title VII of that act, both of which were aimed to end discrimination.