W&L Commemorates Constitution Day with Panel Discussion The focus will be the "1619 Project" and the U.S. Constitution.

By Erica Turman
September 6, 2019

In commemoration of Constitution Day, the Washington and Lee University Politics Department will host a panel of W&L professors who will address an article in The New York Times Magazine, written by Nikole Hannah-Jones, which is part of the magazine’s “1619 Project.”

The panel, which is free and open to the public, will be Sept. 17 at 4 p.m. in Stackhouse Theater on the Washington and Lee campus.

The event will be available to watch online here.

“The article raises questions about how people understand the nation’s past,” said Lucas Morel, professor of politics and head of the politics department at W&L. “Especially questions about the role that slavery played in the country’s development, which shapes how people understand the U.S. Constitution.”

The panel will include Morel; Brandon Hasbrouck, assistant professor of law; Robin LeBlanc, professor of politics; Molly Michelmore, associate professor of history; and Mohamed Kamara, associate professor of French and the department chair for Africana Studies.

After a brief introduction, each panelist will have about 10 minutes to make a few points, and then discussion will be opened to the audience.

Constitution Day is an American federal observance that recognizes the adoption of the United States Constitution and those who have become U.S. citizens. It is normally observed on Sept. 17, the day in 1787 that delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document in Philadelphia.