Beyond the Thirteenth Amendment: Reclaiming the Promise of Freedom

On December 6, 1865, the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. As we reflect on this dark chapter in our nation’s history, join our continued work to build a nation that protects the rights of all its people.

This symposium will feature panel discussions with renowned legal scholars and historians, as well as a keynote conversation between Dr. Martha Jones and NC Supreme Court Justice, Anita Earls.

Dr. Martha Jones is an American historian and legal scholar. She is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University. She studies the legal and cultural history of the United States, with a particular focus on how Black Americans have shaped the history of American democracy. She has published books on the voting rights of African American women, the debates about women's rights among Black Americans in the early United States, and the development of birthright citizenship in the United States as promoted by African Americans in Baltimore before the Civil War.

Anita Earls is an American civil rights attorney who has served as an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court since 2019. She previously served as the executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, as well as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice during the Clinton administration. On November 6, 2018, Earls defeated Republican incumbent Justice Barbara Jackson in a three-candidate election to win a seat on the state's highest court.

Note: this program takes place in the Carrboro Century Center. 

Don't forget to register for the December 5 Mike Wiley performance - The Fire of Freedom

Program partners for Beyond the Thirteenth Amendment symposium include:

• Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition
• Orange County Office of Civil Rights & Civic Life
• Carolina Public Humanities & Carolina K-12
• Town of Carrboro
• Chapel Hill Public Library's Community History Program.