Symposium on "Dred Scott: Beyond Black and White" (9/24)

On Friday, September 24, the UC Davis Humanities Institute is hosting an event on Dred Scott: Beyond Black and White. Guests may attend in person or via Zoom. A description of the event:

The Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision is notorious for its racism and frank endorsement of African American slavery and white supremacy. Although repudiated by the Civil War and overruled by the Reconstruction Amendments, it remains a landmark in American history. This symposium explores whether and how Dred Scott remains relevant in modern American jurisprudence, and its implications for a multi-racial nation.

~~~~List of Presenters~~~~

Gabriel “Jack” Chin, Professor of Law –UC Davis School of Law –“Dred Scott and Asian Americans”

Kevin R. Johnson, Dean-UC Davis School of Law-“Dred Scott and Asian Americans: Was Justice Taney the First Critical Race Theorist?”

Leticia Saucedo, Professor of Law- UC Davis School of Law –“Mexicans, Conquest and White Sovereignty”

Greg Downs, Professor of History and Michael Haggerty, PhD Candidate UC Davis Department of History-“Roger Taney: Intersectional Racist in an Age of Racist Differentiation”

Lea VanderVelde, Professor of Law, Iowa College of Law- “How the Reconstruction Congress Let Down Mrs. Dred Scott and her Daughters, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Myra Bradwell, Leaving Our Foremothers to Rely on White Knights”

Paul Finkelman, Chancellor- Gratz College- “The First Civil Rights Movement: Deconstructing Chief Justice Taney's Misunderstanding About Slavery, Race, and the American Founding”

Amanda Frost, Professor of Law and Government, American University Washington College of Law- “Seizing Citizenship: Lydia Hamilton Smith, Thaddeus Stevens, and the Pathway to Citizenship in Antebellum America”

Moderator: Raquel Aldana, Professor of Law –UC Davis School of Law

Special Guest Commentary: Ediberto Roman, Professor of Law and Director of Immigration and Citizenship Initiatives, Florida International University

This event is part of the Free People of Color Lecture Series, hosted by the Aoki Center at King Hall and the UC Davis Department of History. The series "explore[s] the rights of people of color in the United States following the Civil War and inquire[s] how that history continues to shape our thinking today."

More information, including a registration link, is available here.

-- Karen Tani