Race and the Constitution

This course is now full.  Please email Murph at smurphy@summitcounty.org to be placed on the Waitlist.

PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED and space is limited. Due to high interest in this course, we ask that you commit to attending at least 5 of the 6 classes. All participants must have an active Summit County Library card, please visit the Circulation Desk at any branch to apply for a library card.  Library cards are free for Summit County residents and $25/year for non-residents. Please call Murph at 435-336-3070 if you have any questions.

This 6 week course will explore the history of race relations in America through the lens of the Constitution, some of the major Supreme Court cases that have informed the development of equal protection principles, and some of the individuals whose words and lives offer further perspective. The class will be organized chronologically, looking at relevant Constitutional, legislative and cultural events during the last 230 years. Each class session will develop one of the lecture topics described below, with substantial opportunity for discussion. The instructor's goal is that students will come away with a deeper understanding of our culture’s continuing struggle with race and ethnicity despite a Civil War, civil rights movements, and legal evolution, and of why our political/cultural polarization seems so often driven by divergent views of our history, especially history related to race.

There will be no required reading, but there will be recommended readings as we move along for those who wish to dig deeper.  Recommended readings include:

U.S. Constitution (“The Penguin Guide to the U.S. Constitution” by Richard Beeman, 2010 is an excellent source)

The Second Founding by Eric Foner, 2019

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, 2010

There will also be handouts for each class session to aid in-class discussion.

WEEKLY SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND DATES

September 12, 6-7:30pm: All men are created equal? (1619-1789) -- We will begin with the semantic question of exactly what “race” is, and a brief history of African slavery in America from 1619 through the adoption of the Constitution. We will review the Declaration of Independence, including the language concerning the African slave trade that was deleted prior to its adoption, and the impact of slavery on the language of the Constitution itself.

September 19, 6-7:30pm: Equal Protection in the Early United States (1789-1860) -- We will look at the social and political conditions that led to the two pre-Civil War Supreme Court cases addressing the rights of Africans in America: United States v Schooner Amistad (1841), and Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857). As part of our discussion we will look at the growing divide in the young United States between those supporting and profiting from slavery and those supporting the abolition movement. 

September 26, 6-7:30pm: Polarization, War, Emancipation (1860-1900) --  We will begin with the election of 1860 and Lincoln’s efforts to save the Union as well as his personal evolution on the subject of slavery. We will then turn to the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the aftermath of the War (reconstruction and Jim Crow). We will focus on the three Civil War era amendments to the Constitution (13, 14, and 15), and three important Supreme Court cases addressing race: Strauder v. West Virginia (1879), and Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).

October 3, 6-7:30pm: The Early Twentieth Century – Will anything change? (1900-1965) -- We will explore the “Lost Cause”, the rise of the KKK, and the Great Migration. We will look at the two World Wars and their impact on racial equality and several important Supreme Court Cases, including. Buchanan v. Warley (1917), and Shelley v. Kraemer (1948).

October 10, 6-7:30pm: Civil Rights Movements (1950-2000) -- We will discuss the Civil Rights movement and affirmative action, and we will examine a number of cases including and Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Loving v. Virginia (1967), and Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978). We will review the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965.

October 17, 6-7:30pm: Where Are We Now and Where are we Headed? (2000-2022) -- We will address relevant Supreme Court decisions during the first two decades of the 21st Century. Among cases, we will look at is Shelby County v. Holder (2013). We will consider the direction of the country on these issues going forward.

Instructor Beth Whitsett has practiced law in Utah and California since 1978. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, Yale University (MA in teaching), and Stanford University(BA in Biological Sciences). She has broad transactional legal experience with a focus in recent years on compliance and governance, including code and policy development and employee training for U.S. and multinational clients. She is a former adjunct professor of law at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law and presently teaches at the Osher Institute at the University of Utah.

ELIZABETH WHITSETT has previously taught:

• Miracle at Philadelphia
• The Supreme Court: Great Dissents and Dissenters
• Equality: A Self-Evident Truth?
• The Bill of Rights
• The Constitution And Race Relations In America
• Individual Rights and the Constitution:  Expression and Religion; Due Process; Privacy

Funding for this course has been generously provided by the Friends of the Summit County Library.