The National Constitution Center and the Federal Judicial Center convene leading historians for conversations on Reconstruction and the Constitution. Pamela Brandwein of the University of Michigan, Sherrilyn Ifill of Howard University School of Law, and Ilan Wurman of the University of Minnesota Law School explore the 14th Amendment and the history of Reconstruction. Martha Jones of Johns Hopkins University, Kate Masur of Northwestern University, and Dylan Penningroth of the University of California, Berkeley, delve into the broader legal and social effects of Reconstruction beyond the amendments. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.
This program is presented in partnership with the Federal Judicial Center.
Full Video
Panel 1: The 14th Amendment and the History of Reconstruction
Podcast
Participants Panel 1:
Pamela Brandwein is a professor of political science at the University of Michigan and professor of law (by courtesy) at Michigan Law School. She is the author of Reconstructing Reconstruction: The Supreme Court and the Production of Historical Truth (1999) and Rethinking the Judicial Settlement of Reconstruction (2011).
Sherrilyn Ifill is the Vernon E. Jordan Jr. Esq. Endowed Chair in Civil Rights at Howard Law School, where she is launching the 14th Amendment Center for Law & Democracy. She previously served as the former president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and she is working on a forthcoming book entitled Is This America?.
Ilan Wurman is the Julius E. Davis Professor of Law at University of Minnesota. He is the author of A Debt Against the Living: An Introduction to Originalism and The Second Founding: An Introduction to the Fourteenth Amendment. His next book, The Constitution of 1789: An Introduction, is also forthcoming.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Panel 2: Law and Reconstruction Beyond the Amendments
Podcast
Participants Panel 2:
Martha Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, professor of history, and professor at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All, Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America, and most recently, The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir.
Kate Masur is the John D. MacArthur Chair and Professor of History at Northwestern University. She is author and editor of several acclaimed books on the Civil War and Reconstruction, including her most recent works, Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction and Freedom Was in Sight! A Graphic History of Reconstruction in the Washington, D.C., Region.
Dylan Penningroth is a professor of law and Alexander F. May T. Morrison Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where he is associate dean and chair of the Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program and the Legal Studies Program. He is the author of Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
Panel 1
- Ilan Wurman, The Second Founding: An Introduction to the Fourteenth Amendment (2020)
- Pamela Brandwein, Rethinking the Judicial Settlement of Reconstruction (2011)
- Sherrilyn Ifill, “Why are U.S. courts afraid of the 14th Amendment? Because it’s radical,” The Washington Post (Nov. 23, 2023)
- Sherrilyn Ifill, “Yes, this is America: Why I’m Creating the 14th Amendment Center for Law and Democracy,” Substack (July 7, 2023)
- 14th Amendment
- Title VI, Civil Rights Act of 1964
- The Civil Rights Bill of 1866
- The Reconstruction Amendments
- Brown v. Board of Education
Panel 2
- Kate Masur, Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction (2021)
- Dylan Penningroth, Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights (2023)
- Martha S. Jones, Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All (2020)
- The American Colonization Society
- Dred Scott v. Sandford
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