Warning: this is somewhat long, discusses opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States, and academic studies. For reasons I cannot fathom, it has no discussions of Lincoln's status as mythological hero/autocratic villain, nor does it seem to reach any conclusions on whether Robert E. Lee was a genius or idiot or gentleman or traitor.
But we can't have everything. I thought it was a good, thought-provoking, if depressing (assuming the validity of its conclusions), read.
http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-sad-irony-of-affirmative-action
