Martha S. Jones, "Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America"

, Room 130, 85 Waterman Street, Providence RI 02912

Birthright Citizens tells how African American activists radically transformed the terms of citizenship for all Americans. Before the Civil War, colonization schemes and black laws threatened to deport former slaves born in the United States. Birthright Citizens recovers the story of how African American activists remade national belonging through battles in legislatures, conventions, and courthouses. They faced formidable opposition, most notoriously from the US Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott. Still, Martha S. Jones explains, no single case defined their status. Former slaves studied law, secured allies, and conducted themselves like citizens, establishing their status through local, everyday claims. All along they argued that birth guaranteed their rights. With fresh archival sources and an ambitious reframing of constitutional law-making before the Civil War, Jones shows how when the Fourteenth Amendment constitutionalized the birthright principle, the aspirations of black Americans’ aspirations were realized.

This event is free and open to the public. A book sale and signing will follow, as well as a light reception. 

Speaker

Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and a Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University.

Presented by

The Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America (CSREA)
The Department of American Studies