This book charts the ambiguous and contested meanings of civil rights in law and culture, confronting important questions about race in contemporary America.

1. Race law cases in the American story Devon W. Carbado and Rachel Moran; 2. Commentary: race law cases in the American story: Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl Grace Lee; 3. Race is evidence: (mis)characterizing blackness in the American civil rights story Montré D. Carodine; 4. Montré D. Carodine's race is evidence of parenting in America: another civil rights story Tanya Asim Cooper; 5. Blurring the color-blind line: eroding the dichotomy between color blindness and color consciousness in civil rights in the American story Mark Brilliant; 6. What line? Fredrick Vars; 7. Reframing the civil rights narrative: from compliance to collective impact Susan Sturm; 8. Susan Sturm's reframing the civil rights narrative: from compliance to collective impact Steven Hobbs; 9. Civil rights and the myth of moral progress Richard Thompson Ford; 10. The best time of your life: reflections on the myth of moral progress and the continuing evolution of civil rights law Ronald Krotoszynski.