With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

In New Book, Justice Thomas Weighs In on Former Accuser

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in a forcefully rendered new autobiography, says he was pilloried during his 1991 confirmation hearings because liberal advocacy groups who feared he would vote to overturn abortion rights were willing to stoop to “the age-old blunt instrument of accusing a black man of sexual misconduct.”

They did so by, he writes, by using untrue sexual harassment claims by Anita F. Hill, a law professor and former subordinate, whom he described as a mediocre but ambitious lawyer and labels as “my most traitorous adversary.”

The 289-page book, “My Grandfather’s Son,” is Justice Thomas’s most complete account of his life and his version of the events surrounding the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings that engaged much of the nation.
Read entire article at NYT