Reckoning with the Constitution

Over 150 years after Reconstruction, the U.S. has not yet fully grappled with the legacy of slavery. Our Constitution, authored and adopted exclusively by property-holding white men, formally established an American racial caste system with effects that continue to be felt generations later. Passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, designed to expand American citizenship to include African American men, was followed by a century of Jim Crow and racial terrorism, a pattern repeated once more as the Civil Rights Movement's achievements were followed by the unprecedent expansion of the carceral state, voter suppression, and erosion of civil rights. Today, institutional racism persists and white supremacist ideology is resurgent. In what ways was white supremacy encoded in our Constitution from its adoption? Was Reconstruction a complete failure, and if so, was it a failure of design or implementation? Can consent of the governed be achieved after the founding compact has been in place for so long and is so difficult to amend?

Join ACS for the first event in a year-long series that will explore what constitutional, legal, and policy reforms are required to address the institutional racism that continues to infect our economic, legal, educational, and health systems and might lead us toward a Third Reconstruction.

Welcome Remarks:

Russ Feingold, President, ACS

Featured Speakers:

Luis Fuentes-Rohwer, Class of 1950 Herman B. Wells Endowed Professor of Law, Indiana University Maurer School of Law

Randall Kennedy, Michael R. Klein Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

Jason Mazzone, Albert E. Jenner, Jr. Professor of Law, Illinois College of Law

Tiffany Wright, Adjunct Professor and Supervising Attorney, Civil Rights Clinic, Howard University School of Law

Lindsay Langholz, Director of Policy and Program, ACS, Moderator

As the nation's leading progressive legal organization, ACS is committed to ensuring that all aspects of our events are accessible and enjoyable for all. If you require any accommodations, please contact us at info@acslaw.org.