Mission & Vision
Our mission is based on the fact that today we live in a time where the lines that separate issues of race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, gender, and ability are rapidly moving closer together. Intersectionality is no longer an academic insight, but a lived reality for those who often experience marginality. As an increasingly diverse society the meanings of legal issues can longer be isolated to sound bites like “blacks vs. whites,” “liberal vs. conservative,” or “women vs. men.”
We, at The Modern American, have initiated a discussion about the issues that affect systemically marginalized people, marginalized experiences and voices, as well as the complexity within marginalized communities themselves, with a track-record of publishing articles offering unique perspectives and analysis of diversity and the law. It is our belief that issues of race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, gender and ability are lens that are not reserved to any particular ideology—our philosophy is to provide an incisive and critical look into these issues from a variety of perspectives.
The Modern American is not a traditional scholarly law publication that is limited to technical, sometimes esoteric discussion of legal issues. Our publication believes legal writing must examine political, historical, and social contexts, to engage in complex and full legal analysis. TMA publishes legislative updates, book essays, interviews, conference reports, and other legal happenings, in addition to scholarly articles and essays that are relevant to people pushing for legal and social change.
Equally important, we aim to be accessible to a broad audience. Our articles are shorter and plainly written compared to traditional law publications. Similarly, our published issues are available online, in print by free subscription, and are archived in every major law database, such as Hein Online, LexisNexis, Westlaw. As a platform for traditionally under-represented scholarship, voices and views, we make an effort to publish cutting-edge work by students, emerging scholars, practitioners, and non-traditional scholarship and commentary by established legal minds and advocates.
TMA is one of the leading publications in the country on diversity and the law, and it continues to expand in readership and visibility.