Selected Publications 

Noteworthy Excerpts:

“The idea that Black women vote as a monolithic group connected to all things racial and rarely to issues of gender presents the complexities of race and gender. This concept is legally established by federal court decisions that have decreed that Black women can represent Blacks but may not represent women as a group or be considered a ‘supermajority’ in a class action.”

15 Duke Journal of Gender, Law and Policy 277-278 (2008)

“The mere presence of a critical mass of different people not only changes the complexion but the balance and perception of power. True equality has more to do with the sharing of power than the perception of inclusion.”

6 Washington and Lee Race and Ethnic Ancestry Journal 32-33 (2000)

“It is always important to reflect upon the problems of yesteryear to see if we, as a society, have really learned the equality lesson. We fear as a nation, and certainly as women, that we will hark back to an era where there was a fear of the consequences of speaking publicly. But there was some significance to women’s speech then that we have not quite been able to achieve ever since? If women’s speech is less dangerous now, it is also less powerful as well. As one legal historian accurately phrased it, women in early New England had ‘good reason to believe that their voices would not be ignored. Never again would women’s voices be as literally credible as they had been before 1692…as legal discourse itself became more formal, complex and distinct from everyday dialogue; women were less often called upon to speak directly to those in power. Female speech in the public sphere continued to be viewed as a disruption well into the nineteenth century, no different than today.”

9 Roger Williams University Law Review 563 (2004)

“There are clear cultural and political traditions that stand in the way of progress and stabilization in Haiti. Further, the association of democracy and capitalism is not generally accepted in Haiti as a solution to its problems. The deprivation and humiliation of slavery imposed by the French, the occupation by the Americans, the dictatorship of the Duvaliers and the continuation of the Ton Macoutes, have left Haiti in continuous chaos and turmoil.”

11 Dickinson Journal of International Law 74-75 (1992)

“Children who are born of Haitian parents in the Dominican Republic must be given legal citizenship as provided by the Constitution of the Dominican Republic and international treaties to which it is a signatory. 

The continued enslavement of men, women and children who work and live in the bateye must be eliminated if both the Dominican Republic and Haiti are to move into this century with autonomy and dignity. Until all of these critical elements are met, there will be little hope for man to understand that the enslavement of another person is in essence the enslavement of himself.”

9 New England Journal of International and Comparative Law 44-45 (2003)

“The cost of healthcare is too expensive for one not to receive the competence in care, treatment, diagnosis and services that one bargains for in the doctor/patient relationship. When the provision of medical services and advice causes physical, emotional, mental, and economic harm as a result of a breach of duty on the part of physicians (or even drug companies), full recovery of damages must be allowed.”

11 Harvard Blackletter Law Journal 143 (1994)

“The Code Noir of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries produced far-reaching effects on later generations of mixed race people in Louisiana. The advent of this third race through the practice of plaçage, coupled with manumission and inheritance rights from French fathers, established a sizable population of gens de couleur libre, or free people of color. This was particularly important because it produced a class of women who achieved power through property acquisition.”

7 William and Mary Journal of Women and the Law 702 (2001)