Category Archives: Uncategorized

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 … Continue reading →

“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 … Continue reading →

  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, … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

“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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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. SaveSave SaveSave