A Broad and Sure Foundation: The 14th Amendment in American Life and Imagination

FAIN: LD-234311-16

Maine Humanities Council (Portland, ME 04102-1012)
Elizabeth Sinclair (Project Director: June 2015 to April 2017)

Implementation of a public forum and library-based public programs that explore the 14th Amendment’s history and legal relevance, focusing on African American literature around citizenship.

Taking as its inspiration the 150th anniversary of the passage by Congress of the 14th Amendment, this project will explore the history, evolution, and contemporary significance of three key provisions in that amendment: citizenship, due process, and equal protection of the law. The 14th Amendment has had a profound impact on American jurisprudence and American life: no other constitutional amendment is more cited in legal cases, and none is more directly relevant to many of the key issues we face today. Debates around many of the topics central to our national conversation are shaped by our understanding of 14th Amendment issues. By looking at these issues from historical, legal, and literary perspectives, the Maine Humanities Council (MHC) will provide audiences across Maine with opportunities to explore the history and evolution of how the amendment has been understood and to discuss some of the most important and challenging questions facing our country and our communities.

Media Coverage

Exhibit Explores the 14th Amendment (Media Coverage)
Publication: Central maine.com
Date: 9/16/2016
Abstract: The Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine in partnership with the Kennebec Valley Art Association will present “Equal Protection of the Laws,” an exhibition featuring the work of 17 Maine artists inspired by the rights granted by the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.The exhibit and programs were supported by the Maine Humanities Council through their broad and sure foundation program.
URL: http://www.centralmaine.com/2016/09/15/exhibit-explores-the-14th-amendment/

Students create ‘We are Westbrook’ with street artist: A grant brought Pigeon to the school to help celebrate diversity and inclusivity. (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Kate Gardner
Publication: Keep Me Current
Date: 3/16/2017
Abstract: Students at Westbrook High School got to be street artists for a day as they celebrated diversity and inclusivity. Instead of streets, though, the students lined the school hallways with their art. Overseeing the installation was street artist Pigeon, most known for The MAINER Project, which he created last year. “The whole idea is to acknowledge each other’s differences, and also find commonalities,” Pigeon, whose real name is Orson Horchler, said of the project at the high school. The project was set up by the Maine Humanities Council, which awarded grants to eight schools so Pigeon could work with them. The project was set up by the Maine Humanities Council, which awarded grants to eight schools so Pigeon could work with them.
URL: http://news.keepmecurrent.com/students-create-we-are-westbrook-with-street-artist-a-grant-brought-pigeon-to-the-school-to-help-celebrate-diversity-and-inclusivity/

The conversation about equality in Maine is just getting started (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Hayden Anderson
Publication: The Bangor Daily News
Date: 5/15/2016
Abstract: Equality is a bedrock American value, yet somehow it feels like we’re not very good at it. From the founding to the present day, we have always talked pretty well about equality while falling well short of the ideal. It’s worth thinking about why that’s so.
URL: http://bangordailynews.com/2016/05/15/opinion/the-conversation-about-equality-in-maine-is-just-getting-started-2/

How Maine did-and then didn't- play a-role in the 14th Amendment (Media Coverage)
Publication: Bangor Daily News
Date: 6/19/2016
Abstract: One hundred fifty years ago this spring, Congress passed what some call the most important modification to the U.S. Constitution ever. The 14th Amendment fixed problems left over from the Civil War, a task that proved to be surprisingly difficult. The amendment’s ambivalent legacy has rendered it a vital piece of our constitution, with ongoing relevance to today’s contentious policy debates.
URL: https://bangordailynews.com/2016/06/19/opinion/contributors/how-maine-did-and-then-didnt-play-a-role-in-the-14th-amendment/

Exploring the concepts of equality, citizenship, and liberty/ Maine Calling radio show (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Maine Public Radio call-in show
Publication: Maine Public Broadcasting
Date: 5/1/2016
Abstract: Join guests Kenneth W. Mack, Lawrence D. Biele Professor of Law and Affiliate Professor of History at Harvard University, and Patrick Rael, Professor of History at Bowdoin College, as they discuss the historical and contemporary significance of the 14th Amendment on MPBN Maine Calling. Passed 150 years ago, the 14th Amendment ensures citizenship rights, equal protection, and due process before the law. It is also cited in more litigation than any other constitutional amendment, influencing such Supreme Court cases as Plessy v. Ferguson (18 May 1896), Brown v. Board of Education (17 May 1954), Loving v. Virginia (12 Jun 1967), and Obergefell v. Hodges (26 June 2015). As the 150th anniversary of its framing approaches, we discuss its origins, its continued impact on American life, and its interpretation by the Supreme Court, federal, and state governments.
URL: https://mainehumanities.org/news-announcements/the-14th-amendment-on-mpbn-maine-calling/

Maine Voices: A Captain America for Civil Rights My beard and turban help me teach kids to shed stereotypes and be open to learning what it really means to be American. (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Vishavjit Singh
Publication: Portland Press Herald
Date: 5/29/2016
Abstract: His account of his visit to Maine to present at the Civil Rights Team Projects annual statewide conference for students and advisors.
URL: http://www.pressherald.com/2016/05/29/maine-voices-a-captain-america-for-civil-rights/

Associated Products

Violence and Belonging: : The 14th Amendment and American Literature (a reading & discussion series) (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: Violence and Belonging: : The 14th Amendment and American Literature (a reading & discussion series)
Author: Maine Humanities Council with Eden Osucha, Karen Eger, and Marcela Peres
Abstract: In examining the legacies of the Fourteenth Amendment for the nation’s literary history, this reading and discussion series looks at books that address issues of diversity, identity, and inequality in exploring how, for many Americans, the promise of citizenship falls short of their reality.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: https://mainehumanities.org/programs/lets-talk/violence-and-belonging-the-14th-amendment-and-american-literature/
Primary URL Description: This is a link to the Maine Humanities Council's webs page with the full description of the series.
Audience: General Public

Race & Justice in America- a 14th Amendment related reading and discussion series for libraries (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: Race & Justice in America- a 14th Amendment related reading and discussion series for libraries
Author: Maine Humanities Council with Leroy Rowe and Elizabeth Hartsig and Holly Williams
Abstract: This series explores the complex, and often uneasy, relationship between black Americans and the American justice system. Developed by project scholar Leroy Rowe, Assistant Professor of African American History and Politics, University of Southern Maine, and librarian consultants Elizabeth Hartsig (Portland Public Library) and Holly Williams (Pittsfield Public Library), the books selected for Race and Justice in America provide historical analyses of selected events, court rulings, and public policies that help to explain the black American struggle for citizenship, civil rights, and equal treatment under the laws. Race and Justice in America also explores the changing boundaries and content of state and national citizenship. The core questions that the series engages are: how was membership in the social and political community defined for African Americans and whites in the United States? How have those definitions changed over time? And in what ways did individuals and communities exercise rights as citizens and experience those rights differently?
Year: 2016
Primary URL: https://mainehumanities.org/programs/lets-talk/race-and-justice-in-america/
Primary URL Description: This links to Maine Humanities Council's web page with a full description of the series
Audience: General Public

Pioneers & Frontiers : a reading and discussion series raising issues related to the 14th Amendment and its effects on our lives (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: Pioneers & Frontiers : a reading and discussion series raising issues related to the 14th Amendment and its effects on our lives
Author: Maine Humanities Council with Mary Alice Crosby and Julia Walkling
Abstract: Pioneers and Frontiers is a reading and discussion series designed for participants in the Maine Humanities Council’s NEW BOOKS, NEW READERS program: low-literacy adults who are working to improve their reading and those who are not in the habit of reading. The books are carefully chosen from the best of children’s literature to relate to participants’ own lives and to broaden their perspectives in discussions led by a humanities scholar/facilitator. It is an important part of the program that participants receive the books to keep. Participants come from adult basic education, GED programs, Literacy Volunteers, family literacy programs, and correctional facilities around the state.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: https://mainehumanities.org/programs/new-books-new-readers-full-series-list/pioneers-and-frontiers/
Primary URL Description: This is a link to the Maine Humanities Council webpage with the description of the series
Audience: Other

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