The 160th Anniversary of the 13th Amendment: The Undeniable History (In-Person Program)

This year marks the 160th anniversary of the ratification of the landmark 13th Amendment – a defining moment in U.S. Constitutional history that officially abolished slavery. Join us for a special educational event for judges, attorneys, law clerks, legal scholars, law students, and members of the public.

This engaging full-day program will feature an interactive agenda including keynote speakers and panel discussions that will present the historical backdrop that led to the ratification of the 13th Amendment, the amendment’s shortcomings, and the courts’ role in effectuating the unrealized promises of the amendment. This program addresses the role that courts played and their current responsibility in the ongoing struggle for racial justice in this country.

Through education, dialogue, and reflection, we aim to recognize the resilience of those who fought for freedom, and to deepen an understanding of the amendment’s legal significance, as the beginning of a long, unfinished struggle for true equality and justice.

Highlights include:

• Keynote address by civil rights lawyer and scholar Sherrilyn Ifill.
• Conversations about Massachusetts and Rhode Island’s participation in the slavery industry.
• Powerful storytelling and historical reflection.
• Expert panel on the legal and economic legacy of slavery and the 13th Amendment.
• Opportunities for community dialogue and engagement about where we go from here.
• The Honorable Judge James A. Wynn will address the unfinished work of justice.

Don’t miss this chance to reflect on a pivotal legal/historical milestone and explore the meaning of freedom and justice for all – past and present.

Speakers & Panelists (confirmed to date):
In alphabetical order

Prof. Christy Clark-Pujara, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dept. of History
Prof. Akeia de Barros Gomes, Director for the Edward W. Kane and Martha J. Wallace Center for Black History and Lecturer at Brown University, Public Humanities
Prof. Michele Goodwin, Georgetown Law
Prof. Sherrilyn Ifill, Howard University School of Law
Thomas Koonce, TEK Transformative Solutions
Traci Picard, Researcher and Historian
Prof. Deborah Ramirez, Northeastern University School of Law
Tamera T. Rocha, Esq., Rhode Island Supreme Court
Kyera Singleton, Ph.D. Executive Director, Royall House and Slave Quarters
Hon. Myron Thompson, Senior District Court Judge, US District Court, Middle District of Alabama
Hon. James A. Wynn, Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

Sponsoring Organizations:
United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island
United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
Rhode Island Committee on Racial & Ethnic Fairness in the Courts
Flaschner Judicial Institute
Brown University Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice
The Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy at Salve Regina University
Justice Harry J. Elam Judicial Conference

Film Screening – Wednesday, December 3rd at 6:30 PM
With Introduction and Discussion led by Keith Stokes, R.I. Historian Laureate

WHO WE ARE – A Chronicle of Racism in America
Robinson exposes how deeply encoded white supremacy and the oppression of Black Americans is in our nation’s history. Weaving heartbreak, humor, passion, and rage, Robinson shows us how legalized discrimination and state-sanctioned brutality, murder, dispossession, and disenfranchisement continued long after slavery ended, profoundly impeding Black Americans’ ability to create and accumulate wealth as well as to gain access to jobs, housing, education, and health care. His words lay bare an all-but-forgotten past, as well as our shared responsibility to create a better country in our lifetimes.