Pre-Reading Expectations

The Author

Michelle Alexander was born on October 7, 1967, in Stelle, IL. Alexander is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Vanderbilt University, where she received a Truman Scholarship.
Alexander served several years as director of the Racial Justice Project at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. This leading a national campaign against racial profiling by law enforcement. Along with that she also directed a Civil Rights Clinic at Stanford Law School. Today Michelle Alexander is a highly acclaimed civil rights lawyer, advocate, and legal scholar. She is most well known for her 2010 novel, The New Jim Crow, which is the novel I will be reading. She has dealt with many racial justice and criminal justice reform issues so she has extensive knowledge when in this subject. 
My Expectations

 I have very high expectations for this novel. I feel that I will be able to take away many important lessons and learn a lot about civil rights and racism considering the fact that Michelle Alexander has a lot of insight into these subjects, knowing she grew up and lived in a time period of racial segregation. Along with the author's background, the title of the novel also shows a lot. The title, "The New Jim Crow" implies to me that this novel will also focus on the current racism in our country. The Jim Crow Laws back in the day enforced Racial segregation back in the day. For the title to be "The New Jim Crow" I expect that this novel will surely cover how racism has just evolved from then and how it is still plaguing our country today. 

 Slanted vs. Unbiased

 I feel that this novel will be pretty slanted because of the author's background with racial justice cases and her civil rights works. She herself is a colored woman, who grew up in a time of racial segregation so she herself has strong opinions about racism and civil rights. So in this novel, Michelle Alexander will surely continue to fight and defend these rights. 

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