Michelle Adams
Legal scholar Michelle Adams – whose research centers on race discrimination, school desegregation, affirmative action and housing law – had a great role model. “My father was a lawyer who had a big effect on me. He was a public defender for many Black Detroiters and a larger-than-life figure,” she said.
Now Adams prepares future lawyers for their profession as the Henry M. Butzel Professor of Law at the University of Michigan, where she won the 2024 L. Hart Wright Teaching Award.
“As a full-time tenured law professor, that was really gratifying for me, especially in my first full year of tenure,” said Adams, who also taught at the Benjamin N. Cardoza School of Law where she was named Professor of the Year by the graduating class in 2022.
Her comprehensive approach shows her dedication. “From my perspective, I never forget that the students are paying my salary. I spend a tremendous amount of time to prepare for class and think about how the material is going to land for them, and illustrate the material to bring them into the conversation and take them on a journey,” she said. “I am really invested in their success…it’s all about creating excellent lawyers.”
Adams earned a B.A. from Brown University, a J.D. from CUNY Law School, and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School, where she was the first Charles Hamilton Houston Scholar.
Her new book: The Containment: Detroit, The Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North, details the desegregation struggle that ended the Brown v. Board of Education era and the activists whose efforts led to federal Judge Stephen Roth’s landmark order to achieve racial balance between the city and the suburbs with busing for students.
In 1974, when the Supreme Court ruled that the suburbs could not be a part of the effort to integrate, Milliken v. Bradley brought a halt to school desegregation across the North.
“I have always been fascinated with Milliken v. Bradley. It takes place in Detroit and I’m from Detroit. I kept reading about it and realized it was an amazing story. The case was a natural for me to explore,” said Adams. “I basically wrote a book I wanted to read with a backstory almost like a legal thriller for a general audience to take a deep dive into Detroit at the time of the Nixon administration.”
Her book chronicles what happened and why can also be a teaching tool for law students and scholars. In 1970, the NAACP sued state officials to counter segregated schools that violated Brown v. Department of Education. At that time, racially segregated schools were unconstitutional and Michigan law prohibited segregation in schools, but Black children remained in Black schools and white children in white schools. The remedy that proposed busing in Detroit and the suburbs was upheld twice before it got to the Supreme Court in 1974 and was overturned.
“My book is about that case and how segregation in schools had a deeply interrelated relationship to North Jim Crow,” said Adams. “It’s also about incredible personalities.”
The historical account features key figures like Coleman Young and Justices Marshall, Rehnquist and Powell.
Adams, who grew up in Detroit, went to The Roeper School. “It was an extraordinary experience that taught me what integration can do,” she said.
The Containment includes some memoir elements. “I have a great love of Detroit. I moved away and just came back, so from the perspective of someone who lived in the area and then was removed, I hope people here and across the nation will appreciate the book,” said Adams. “It’s a bit of a love letter that takes the reader on a journey. I hope they come with me.”
Story: Susan Peck
Photo: Theodore Michael
