Quite often and many of our most greatest decisions are ones that the court took that were quite unpopular. Lets go to a few cases that illustrate very dramatically and visually, what it means to live in a society of 310 million different people who help stick together because they believed in a rule of law. Cspan and the National Constitution center. Welcome you to the land more cases. Our 12 part history series. Exploring the people and the stories behind some of the Supreme Courts most famous dissidents. Tonight, we will be learning more about the dred scott case of 1857. Let me introduce you to our two guests to tell us about the history and impact of this case. Chris bracey is at George Washington University Law school professor. He is also the coeditor of a book called the dreads caught case and contemporary perspectives. Welcome. Martha jones is at the university of michigan. She is a history professor there and also the chair of afro american and codirector of the race line his
Nick so since he retired, he teaches at new mexico state university, teaches about history and Civil War History and he had a book that came out this week, the u. S. Constitution and secession. It is my distinct pleasure and honor to introduce you to dr. Dwight pitcaithley. Dr. Pitcaithley he promised he was not going to include the rockstar part. Best laid plans. Thank you for coming tonight. Thanks to nick that wonderful introduction and thanks to the grant site for hosting this event. Im going to talk about 25 or 30 minutes, and then alternative over to you, so you can talk about whatever you want to talk about, and we hope that during my time, i have been provocative enough that we can have a conversation that goes on for another 35 or 40 minutes. Robert jim moran, who many of you know, threetime loser prizewinner, wrote that the civil war is our only felt history, history lived in the national imagination, and i think that is true, whether your ancestry goes back that far on not.
Pitcaithley promised he was going to include it is my distinct pleasure and honor to introduce you to doctor dwight pitcaithley. applause nic promised he was not going to include the rock star part. But the best laid plans. Thank you for coming tonight. Thank you to nick for that wonderful introduction. Thank you for the site for posting this event. Im going to talk for about 25 or 30 minutes and then ill turn it over to you so you can talk about whatever you want and talk about whatever you want and hope that during my time i will have been provocative enough that we can have a conversation that goes on for another 30 or 45 minutes robert warren, many of you know, threetime pulitzer prize, who wrote that the civil war is our only felt history. History lived in the national imagination. I think that is true whether youre ancestry goes back that far or not, my mostly does not. We sort of the civil war thanks to ken burns maybe is a part of us. It is a part of our dna. We think about it
University of nebraska lincoln Professor William thomas, teaches a class on some of the lawsuits brought by slaves who sued for their freedom during the antibell lum period. He outlines the different legal arguments they used and emphasized how most suits affected not just one person but entire families. Okay, good morning, everybody. Lets get started. So today, our subject is freedom suits. Suits brought by enslaved families, and how they posed a challenge to the constitution, and under the constitution, how they posed a challenge to american slavery. Now, most of us are familiar with dread scott, d. John sandford and you all read chief Justice Roger tawnys opinion in dred scotts case. And you have read that opinion, and its notorious in American History, right . For the blatant racism in it, for the sanction that tawny gives to the concept of human property under the constitution, and for denying black citizenship, not only denying black citizenship, but denying even blacks as free,
With dred scott, d. John sandford and you all read chief Justice Roger tawnys opinion in dred scotts case. And you have read that opinion, and its notorious in American History, right . For the blatant racism in it, for the sanction that tawny gives to the concept of human property under the constitution, and for denying black citizenship, not only denying black citizenship, but denying even blacks as free, as persons under the constitution. And so, dred scott was one type of freedom suit, right . It was based on his physical presence in a free state, illinois, and his physical presence in wisconsin, a free territory. And its often presented in American History textbooks as if it were the only freedom suit in American History. To go to the Supreme Court. The only, almost uniformly, presented as dred scott, one man bringing a freedom suit. But when we look into it a little more closely, there were thousands of freedom suits in american courts. All of them challenging the notion of slave