Of all the amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the 14th is a big one. It's shaped all of our lives, whether we realize it or not: Roe v. Wade, Brown v. Board of Education, Bush v. Gore, plus other Supreme Court cases that legalized same-sex marriage, interracial marriage, access to birth control they've all been built on the back of the 14th. The amendment was ratified after the Civil War, and it's packed full of lofty phrases like due process, equal protection, and liberty. But what do those words really guarantee us?Today on the show: how the 14th Amendment has remade America – and how America has remade the 14th.
Based on the book Unexampled Courage, The Blinding of Isaac Woodard on AMERICAN EXPERIENCE - March 30 at 9:00 pm woub.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from woub.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.