[From Scott Heerman, Assistant Professor of History, University of Miami, we have the following call for papers for the conference The Many Fourteenth Amendments, to be held March 1-3, 2018, at the University of Miami.]
The U.S. Civil War from 1861-1865 resulted in a forging of a second constitution that in time transformed the structures of American governance. With the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, the nation recast the relationship between the state and subordinated people. This revolutionary amendment created a national citizenship, set terms for southern states to reenter the union, codified new powers for the federal government, and spurred an enduring struggle for due process and equality under law that continues until today. The Fourteenth Amendment has no single legacy. An amendment born in strife birthed an enduring conflict over the meanings and limits of equality, citizenship, and due process. In some instances, it protected corporate power, and reassured the coercive nature of U.S. capitalism. In other cases, it radically expanded the protections afforded to Americans fighting against racial and gender inequality.
On the 150th Anniversary of the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Department of History at the University of Miami, in Coral Gables, Florida, invites scholars to join a research symposium on the causes, consequences, and living legacies of this revolutionary amendment. The conference will open on Thursday March 1, 2018 with a keynote address by Professor Dylan Penningroth, Professor of History and Law at U.C. Berkley. Four subsequent panels will be dedicated to different elements of the Fourteenth Amendment. It will conclude on March 3, 2018 with a roundtable discussion among the chairs of each panel. We solicit individual papers that will be appropriate for one of the following panels:
Panel 1: Making a New Constitution:
Chair: Steven Hahn, Professor of History, New York University
Panel 2: Capitalism, Corporatism, and Conservatism:
Chair: Naomi Lamoreaux, Stanley B. Resnor Professor of Economics and History, Yale University
Panel 3: Birthright Citizenship and Immigration in a Globalized America:
Chair: Mae Ngai, Lung Family Professor of Asian American Studies and Professor of History, Columbia University
Panel 4: Equal Protection and Civil Rights:
Chair: Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Daniel PS Paul Professor of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law School
We welcome applications from scholars at every stage of their careers. Limited travel funds will be available to conference participants. Paper proposals should include a short c.v. and an abstract of no more than 250 words which describes the research to be presented and makes explicit the link with the larger theme of the panel. Applicants should e-mail their proposals to amendmentconference@gmail.com by September 15, 2017. All questions or inquiries should be sent to the above address.
