One of the least publicly recognized heroes of the civil rights
movement in the United States, John Minor Wisdom served as a
member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in his
hometown of New Orleans from 1957 until his death in 1999 and
wrote many of the landmark decisions instrumental in
desegregating the American South. In this revealing biography,
law professor Joel William Friedman explores Judge Wisdom's
substantial legal contributions and political work at a critical
time in the history of the South.Thanks to Robert Richards for
the reference! In 1957, President Eisenhower appointed Wisdom to
the Fifth Circuit, which included some of the most deeply
segregated southern states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia,
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. In the tumultuous two decades
following its decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the
Supreme Court issued only a few civil rights decisions,
preferring instead to affirm Fifth Circuit Court opinions or let
them stand without hearing an appeal. Judge W