Extraordinary Racial Politics: Four Events in the Informal Constitution of the United States

Extraordinary racial politics rupture out of and reset everyday racial politics. In this book, Fred Lee examines four transformative moments in U.S. history: the 1830s-1840s southeastern Indian removals, the Japanese internment during World War II, the post-war civil rights movement, and the 1960s-1970s racial empowerment movements. Lee helps us connect these extraordinary events to both prior and subsequent everyday conflicts.

Extraordinary Racial Politics brings about an intellectual exchange between ethnic studies, which focuses on quotidian experiences and negotiations, and political theory, which emphasizes historical crises and breaks. Lee concludes that extraordinary racial politics represent both the promises of social emancipation and the perils of state power. This promise and peril characterizes our contentious racial present.

Fred Lee is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Asian/Asian American Studies at University of Connecticut, Storrs.