Slave Emancipation, Theatergoing, and the Revolutionizing of Human Rights
Explore the efforts of former slaves and antislavery congressmen to secure guarantees of freedom that would include equal access to public accommodations in the immediate aftermath of Emancipation.
About the Event
Join the Master of Liberal Arts (MLA) Program for an online discussion as we explore the efforts of former slaves and antislavery congressmen to secure guarantees of freedom that would include equal access to public accommodations in the immediate aftermath of Emancipation. Their efforts culminated in the Civil Right Act of 1875, which gave all persons a right to the equal enjoyment of inns and hotels, public conveyances such as railroads and steamships, and theaters and other places of public amusement.
Enacted by a Congress in which sat both ex-slaves and ex-Confederates, the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was meant to destroy the last vestiges chattel slavery and protection human rights. Although struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court as unconstitutional, its revolutionary principles were realized almost a century later under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Who's Speaking
Amy Dru Stanley
Associate Professor in the Department of History and the Law School
Amy Dru Stanley is an associate professor in UChicago’s history department. Her research and teaching focus on US history, from the early Republic through the Progressive Era. She is especially interested in the history of capitalism, slavery, and emancipation, and the historical experience of moral problems. Methodologically, she works at the intersections of intellectual, social, and legal history. She is the recipient of numerous fellowships, from institutions including the Center for Human Values at Princeton University, the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Museum of American History, the American Bar Foundation, and the New York University Law School. She has also been awarded the Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 2009 and a Faculty Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring in 2005.
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