Lecture “Frederick Douglass and the Two Constitutions: Proslavery and Antislavery”
Frederick Douglass and the Two Constitutions: Proslavery and Antislavery
Yale University Professor David Blight, the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, will deliver the Jorde Symposium lecture at NYU School of Law on March 9, 2023, on the theme of “Frederick Douglass and the Two Constitutions: Proslavery, and Antislavery.”
Professor Blight’s lecture will probe the thought and activism of Frederick Douglass as both a moral situationist and political abolitionist, concentrating on the abolitionist leader’s evolving views of the Constitution — from an early view that our founding charter was hopelessly complicit with slavery to his eventual embrace of a thoroughgoing antislavery interpretation.
He will be joined by two distinguished commentators: Professor Martha Jones (Johns Hopkins University) and James Oakes (CUNY Graduate Center)
Agenda:
4-6 pm:
- Welcome: Troy McKenzie, Dean, and Cecelia Goetz Professor of Law, NYU School of Law
- Presentation: David Blight
- Commentators: Martha Jones, James Oakes
6-7: Reception to follow
Speakers:
David Blight — Sterling Professor of History, of African American Studies, and American Studies at Yale University. Author of “Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom”
Martha Jones — Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, Professor of History, and a Professor at the SNF Agora Institute, Johns Hopkins University
James Oakes — Distinguished Professor of History and Graduate School Humanities Professor, Graduate Center of the City University of New York
NYU COVID safety protocols: All visitors must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and boosted and be prepared to present proof of compliance if asked to do so.
About the Symposium
The Brennan Center Jorde Symposium is an annual event, created in 1996 to sponsor top scholarly discourse and writing from a variety of perspectives on issues that were central to the legacy of Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. Each year, the symposium lecture and commentaries are published in the December edition of the California Law Review
Time: 4:00 PM — 7:00 PM EST
Free!
