Eric Foner of Columbia University examines the effect of the Dred Scott v. Sandford U.S. Supreme Court decision on the state of antebellum U.S. politics, focusing particularly on the divisive effects it had within the Democratic party.
To view this clip, select "The Dred Scott Decision and National Politics" under "African-American Experience Video."
Eric Foner of Columbia University outlines the results of the Dred Scott v. Sandford U.S. Supreme Court case, which institutionalized the exclusion of African Americans from citizenship, and Republican denunciation of the Court's decision (including Abraham Lincoln's opposition to the ruling).
To view this clip, select "The Dred Scott Decision of 1857" under "African-American Experience Video."
The Museum is housed in the U.S.'s first academy for African-American women, which operated from 18331834. The school was run by Prudence Crandall (18031890), today designated as Connecticut's state heroine. The museum includes period rooms, changing exhibits, and a small research library.
The museum offers exhibits, research library access, and educational and recreational programs.
Presents more than 500 primary documents relating to the 18391842 revolt of enslaved Africans aboard the schooner Amistad, their legal struggles in the United States, and the multifaceted cultural and social dimensions of the case. The site features a searchable library that contains 32 items from personal papers, 33 legal decisions and arguments, and 18 selections from the popular media, including pamphlets, journal articles, reports, a playbill, and a poem.
In addition, 100 government publications, 28 images, 11 maps and nautical charts, and 310 newspaper articles and editorials are available. The website provides suggestions for using these materials in the classroom, a timeline, links to other resources, and a "living the history" component that encourages user feedback and participation. This visually attractive, well-conceived site provides a wealth of materials for students of slavery, race, politics, and print culture in antebellum America.
Attorney Floyd Abrams navigates the legal minefield of the First Amendment in his book, Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment. He discusses the Pentagon Papers case with NBC's Ann Curry.
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The U.S. Department of Justice takes another look at the Emmett Till case in which a 14-year-old African-American boy was brutally murdered by two white men in Mississippi.
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Designed especially for secondary school teachers of U.S. history, law, and civics/government, the institute will deepen participants' knowledge of the federal judiciary and of the role the federal courts have played in key public controversies that have defined constitutional and other legal rights. Participants will work closely throughout the institute with leading historians, federal judges, and curriculum consultants. Confirmed faculty include Michael Klarman, Kirkland & Ellis Professor, Harvard Law School and Jeffrey Rosen, Professor of Law, George Washington University.
To explore the theme of "Seeking Social Change Through the Courts," the institute will focus on these three landmark federal trials: Woman suffrage and the trial of Susan B. Anthony, Chinese Exclusions Acts and Chew Heong v. United States, and the desegregation of New Orleans schools and Bush v. Orleans Parish School Board.
The Gilder Lehrman Summer Seminars are designed to strengthen participants' commitment to high quality history teaching. Public, parochial, independent school teachers, and National Park Service rangers are eligible. These week-long seminars provide intellectual stimulation and a collaborative context for developing practical resources and strategies to take back to the classroom.
This course is an intensive study of the highest court in the federal judiciary, focusing on the place of the Supreme Court in the American constitutional order. Areas of study may include the relationship between the Court and the other branches of the federal government as well as the states; the Court's power of judicial review; and judicial politics and statesmanship. The institute will examine these kinds of issues by investigating how the Court has interpreted the Constitution in some of its most historic decisions.
Katie Couric looks back at the day that the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed in Birmingham, AL. After the bodies of four girls are found buried in the rubble, the crime becomes a turning point in the struggle for civil rights.
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