Videos

Following the end of the Civil War, the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments were passed - each addressing the rights of the formally enslaved. Michael Bellesiles, author of Inventing Equality:…

Clemson University history Professor Vernon Burton recalled his experiences as an expert witness for plaintiffs in voting rights cases in South Carolina and Texas. Professor Burton also…

Howard Law School Dean Danielle Holley-Walker and U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner Peter Kirsanow talked about Civil Rights Cases (1883). In the group of five consolidated cases, the Supreme Court…

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Eric Foner talked about his book, The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution, in which he looked at the 13th, 14th,…

Panelists looked at the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery, and examined its relationship to issues of today’s criminal justice system. They discussed…

Judges talked about the impact of the Reconstruction Amendments on both legal history and their personal careers in the federal judiciary. They spoke about examples from desegregation and…

Historians and legal scholars talked about the original intent and scope of the 13th and 14th Amendments. These were ratified during the Reconstruction era and dealt with rights for freed…

In commemoration of the 13th amendment’s 150th anniversary, a panel of scholars talked about the amendment’s legacy. The states ratified the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in December 1865 -…

Historians and legal scholars discuss the influence of the 13th and 14th Amendments on modern American society. These were ratified during the Reconstruction era and dealt with rights for freed…

President Obama and congressional leaders spoke at a ceremony in Emancipation Hall to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which formally abolished…