esse quam videri

At the National Constitution Center: Birthright Citizens

I was among a group of scholars marking the 150th anniversary of the 14th Amendment’s adoption under the auspices of the National Constitution Center and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s Thurgood Marshall Institute. Here you can see me, along with Allen Guelzo, Kurt Lash, and Darrell Miller, talking with Jeff Rosen about the how we got to the 14th Amendment as a nation — in my story by no small part through the advocacy of free black activists.

 

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For Medium: “Who We Mourn When We Mourn Dr. King: Remembering the Women Who Raised Us.”

“I remember where I was when I learned that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been killed. I was sitting cross-legged on the floor in the den of my parents suburban New York home. There, on a cool linoleum floor my siblings and I were ensconced, as we were on many afternoons, before the big box of a black and white television that brought us afternoon cartoons and comedies.”

Read more.

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For History News Network: “Demoting ‘Maryland, My Maryland’ Ends a Struggle Begun by Black Baltimoreans in 1863”

 

Maryland’s legislature is poised to demote the official state song – “Maryland, My Maryland” – to the status of a mere “historical” tune. From the historical perspective of black Marylanders, some of whom first rebuked the song in 1863, it is about time.

Read more.

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For the Chronicle of Higher Education: “‘I Had a Dream About You Last Night – A Sexual Dream’: Women Have Heard It All.”

I believe in the power of stories. And long before the arrival of #MeToo, I quietly told mine to other women. It’s been a gesture of solidarity, as in “I’ve been there too.” It’s been a cautionary tale, imparted to junior colleagues who wondered aloud about the prospect of boorish encounters. It has been a boast that went something like, “I’ve known adversity, but I’m still standing.”

Read more.

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#Blackwomanhood: “How a Small Seminar Course Engaged Readers Everywhere.”

“As a graduate seminar, “Black Womanhood,” a new course team-taught by two professors at the Johns Hopkins University this semester, is designed to be intimate. But the professors, Martha S. Jones and Jessica Marie Johnson, also wanted to widely share the readings they’d curated on a topic they are passionate about. Johnson posted a version of the syllabus —  just the readings, not the assignments —  on her blog, Diaspora Hypertext. Unlike the conventional policy-heavy document, the public syllabus for “Black Womanhood” was designed to be eye-catching, with lots of images meant to draw readers in. It set out a schedule of readings to keep up with — one week’s are about the trans-Atlantic slave trade, while another’s cover black marriage.”

Read more.

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For the Washington Post: “Michelle Obama and the Black Women of the White House.”

I’ve been writing about Mrs. Obama and her image since she assumed the role of First Lady in 2009. My first effort was an essay written in connection with an exhibition I curated (with Clayton Lewis) on race and caricature, Reframing the Color Line. Then in 2015, I published an essay length work that explored Mrs. Obama’s ideas about black womanhood, as expressed during her husband’s 2008 run for the presidency of the United States. Those thread came together for me in February 2018 when Mrs. Obama’s portrait, rendered by artist Amy Sherald, was unveiled. I wrote about that image here, taking a long view of how black women have been represented in the White House.

“To represent the nation, Obama had to sweep aside parody — and that’s precisely what her portrait does. Her exposed arms unmistakably signify grace, strength and an impeccable fashion sense. But they also offer more: an unmistakable sign of black women’s political power at the start of the 21st century — a power centuries in the making.” Read more here.

 

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For Muster: “Legal History’s Debt to Frederick Douglass.”

With Frederick Douglass’s 200th birthday approaching, I took a deep dive into his writings to understand how he thought about law. Douglass’s changing thoughts on slavery and the Constitution generally are well known. I wanted to return to his view of the Dred Scott decision. I expect to find Douglass condemning it in 1857, which he did. I was surprised to learn how that decision informed and even haunted Douglass’s thinking for the remainder of his life. It turns out that, as legal historians, we owe him a debt of sorts. Read more here at the the Journal of the Civil War Era’s Muster. 

“When Chief Justice Roger Taney denied that free black Americans were citizens of the United States in the 1857 Dred Scott decision, Douglass immediately opposed him. Then, across his lifetime, Douglass never forget how Taney had used the high court to demean African Americans. From the podium and the pen, Douglass made a record that has endured and thus ensured Dred Scottwill be long remembered as the lowest point in the history of race and law.” Read more here.

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Race, Citizenship, and a Search for Intellectual Honesty

My essay, “Race, Citizenship, and a Search for Intellectual Honesty,” appeared in Muster, the blog of the Journal of the Civil War Era in January 2018.

For me, a seed of doubt about my thinking about race and citizenship was sown by a recent incident at Southern Illinois University–Edwardsville (SIUE). A professor reported entering a classroom to find this message written on the blackboard: “NO PERSON OF AFRICAN Descent shall be Citizen of the U.S.… NOR were they ever intended to be.” Dred Scott Decision <– GOOGLE IT. What’s YOUR NATIONALITY? Million dollar ?

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For the Washington Post: Why calling Elizabeth Warren ‘Pocahontas’ is a slur against all mixed-race Americans

For years I’d followed the saga related to Senator Elizabeth Warren’s one-time claim to Native American ancestry. This case demands rigorous thinking about the multi-faceted construction of race in North America and Native thought leaders, including those belonging to the Cherokee Nation, importantly point up how Native sovereignty may be compromised when outsiders such as Senator Warren and President Trump attempt to define the their borders of belonging. Such belonging cannot be reduced to blood quantum or family stories because political and kinship-based are also foundations of Native identities. For my part, I heard in President Trump’s slur echoes of doubt about the legitimacy of mixed-race Americans to define themselves as such. Washington Post, November 29, 2017.

President Trump’s assault on Sen. Elizabeth Warren descended to a new low Monday. Calling the Massachusetts leader “Pocahontas” during a ceremony honoring Native American code-talker veterans, Trump not only slurred Warren — he slurred all American families whose histories include ancestors of differing races. Read more.

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Watch: “Birthright Citizens” at Notre Dame Law School

In November 2017, I gave the Dean’s Lecture on Race, Law, & Society at Notre Dame Law School: “Birthright Citizens: Winners and Losers in the Long History of the Fourteenth Amendment.” You can watch here.

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