Roger Taney Archives - Public Seminar

Race

There’s a Black Man Running Down My Street

When nice white neighbors criminalize a man for being Black and kill him it’s not just murder—it’s a lynching.

December 1, 2021 • by Mark Allan Williams

When is a murder not a murder? When it’s a lynching. On November 24, 2021—the day before Thanksgiving—many Americans let out a collective breath of relief. In Brunswick, Georgia, a jury convicted Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael, and William Bryan of murder for hunting down and killing Ahmaud Arbery, an ...

There’s a Black Man Running Down My Street

An Interview and Epilogue to Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America

August 29, 2018 • by Martha S. Jones

Martha S. Jones (MSJ): My first inspiration was the years I spent as a public interest lawyer. I represented poor people of color in lower Manhattan’s trial courts and rarely did those cases reach high courts or turn on constitutional questions. Still, I knew that my clients were fighting for fundamental ...