Charting The Aftermath of Equality: Brown, SFFA & the Continuing Struggle for Racial Justice

Charting the Aftermath of Equality Logo

Description

The Belinda Sutton Symposium in Honor of Charles Ogletree, Jr. will take place April 11 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The symposium will be hosted by the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice.

In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA v. Harvard), the Supreme Court interpreted Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 14th Amendment to prohibit race-conscious college admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. The Court’s opinion in SFFA has reconfigured its equality jurisprudence from an albeit tenuous commitment to substantive equality to an unprecedented commitment to colorblindness.

As we mark the 70th anniversary of the Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the Court’s SFFA decision compels our society to grapple anew with the meaning of equality and racial justice for a multiracial polity. Charting the Aftermath will explore how we arrived at this moment, how we should address contemporary challenges to racial justice, and where we go from here.

Interim Provost John Manning proposed the Belinda Sutton Symposium as part of Harvard Law School’s commitment to deepen our understanding of the legacy of slavery and further the as yet unfinished work of advancing racial justice, and as an expression of the school’s desire to honor the enslaved people whose labor contributed to its creation. This Symposium is dedicated to the memory and indelible legacy of Professor Charles Ogletree, Jr., the visionary founder of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice. His eloquent and impactful writings on Brown v. Board of Education continue to inspire us in our quest for a more equitable and just society.

Date and Location

April 11, 2024
Milstein East and West, Wasserstein Hall, Harvard Law School

Agenda

  • 9:00 a.m.
    • Welcome
      • John Goldberg, Interim Dean and Carter Professor of Jurisprudence, Harvard Law School
  • 9:10-9:25 a.m.
    • Prologue: History and Education
      • Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Dean, Harvard Radcliffe Institute, Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law School
  • 9:30-10:30 a.m.
    • How Did We Get Here?
      • Justin Driver, Robert R. Slaughter Professor of Law, Yale Law School
      • Olatunde C. Johnson, Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’59 Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
      • Jerry Kang, Distinguished Professor of Law, UCLA Law School
        • Moderator: Martha Minow, 300th Anniversary University Professor, Harvard University
  • 10:45-11:45 a.m.
    • What Does Equality Mean?
      • Devon Carbado, The Honorable Harry Pregerson Professor of Law, UCLA Law School
      • Benjamin Eidelson, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
      • Nancy Leong, Associate Dean of Faculty Scholarship & Provost Professor, Denver University Sturm College of Law
        • Moderator: Randall Kennedy, Michael R. Klein Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
  • 12:00pm
    • Buffet lunch will open
  • 12:30-1:15 p.m.
    • Introduction by Guy-Uriel Charles, Charles Ogletree, Jr. Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice
    • Keynote: “Stare Decisis and Remedy”
      • Melissa Murray, Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law, NYU Law School
  • 1:30-2:30 p.m.
    • Where Do We Go From Here?
      • Kevin Brown, Mitchell Willoughby Professor of Law, University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law
      • Jonathan Feingold, Associate Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
      • Rachel Moran, Professor of Law, Texas A&M University School of Law
        • Moderator: Kenneth Mack, Lawrence D. Biele Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
  • 2:45-3:45 p.m.
    • Education Reform: Race & Class
      • Osamudia James, Professor of Law, University of North Carolina
      • Richard Kahlenberg, Professorial Lecturer, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, George Washington University
      • Kimberly Robinson, Martha Lubin Karsh and Bruce A. Karsh Bicentennial Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
        • Moderator: Tomiko Brown-Nagin
  • 3:45-4:00 p.m.
    • Reflections
      • Kenneth Mack
  • 4:00 p.m.
    • Post-convening reception