Journey through the parts of American constitutional history that are often overlooked—and the timeless constitutional ideals toward which we strive.
Overview of the course collection
Taught by Professor Michael J. Klarman, the Charles Warren Professor of Legal History at Harvard Law School, this course collection examines race and the United States Constitution from the framing of the nation’s founding charter to the evolution of modern voting rights.
From the perspectives of legal, political, and social history, learners will gain new insights into the key constitutional developments about race across United States history. Professor Klarman brings his decades of award-winning classroom teaching to learners around the globe through action-packed, engaging recorded (asynchronous) lectures, enriched with brief readings and question sets for learners to apply and extend the course material.
This collection consists of two courses:
Equality: Race and Constitutional History from the Founding to Reconstruction
Key topics this course covers are:
Slavery at the Constitutional Convention
The Fugitive Slave Issue
Slavery in the Territories
The 13th Amendment and Part I of the 14th Amendment
Part II of the 14th Amendment and the 15th Amendment
Retreat from Reconstruction and the Triumph of White Supremacy
Objectives
Learners will gain a foundational understanding of key constitutional developments about race across United States history from the nation’s founding to the period of Reconstruction, through the lenses of legal, political, and social history.
Curriculum
Equality: Race and Constitutional History from the Founding to Reconstruction
Equality: Race and Constitutional History from the Founding to Reconstruction is a fully online course that runs for six weeks, with new modules delivered every week and a brief online course orientation prior to the first module. All course content is fully asynchronous, so you can complete each module on your own schedule each week— you don’t have to log in at any particular day or time. Modules contain videos (roughly 20 minutes each), short readings, and formative assessments to deepen comprehension. The estimated amount of work time each week is roughly 1.5 – 2 hours, although individual learners’ timeframeswill vary. The inaugural run of this course begins on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, and concludes on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.
Module Topics:
Module 1 – Slavery at the Constitutional Convention
Module 2 – The Fugitive Slave Issue
Module 3 – Slavery in the Territories
Module 4 – The 13th Amendment and Part I of the 14th Amendment
Module 5 – Part II of the 14th Amendment and the 15th Amendment
Module 6 – Retreat from Reconstruction and the Triumph of White Supremacy
Participants
This course is well-suited for educators at all levels who teach government, history, social studies, or related fields looking to enrich their knowledge base through experiencing Professor Klarman’s masterful and comprehensive analysis, as well as learn about the sources on which he draws. This course is also welcoming for any American history or law enthusiast or anyone curious about these topics looking for an action-packed and accessible starting point.
Admissions
If you are an individual learner looking to enroll in Equality: Race and Constitutional History from the Founding to Reconstruction, please complete this short application.To join the next cohort, please submit your application by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, February 14, 2025. We look forward to responding to your submitted application within 4 business days. There is no cost to apply.
Key Dates:
Application Due Date: Friday, February 14th 2025
Course Orientation Module Opens: Tuesday, February 18th, 2025
Module 1 Opens: Wednesday, February 19th, 2025
Course Concludes: Wednesday, April 2nd, 2025
Faculty
Professor Michael J. Klarman is the Charles Warren Professor of Legal History at Harvard Law School. He received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, his J.D. from Stanford Law School, and his D. Phil. in legal history from the University of Oxford, where he was a Marshall Scholar. After law school, Professor Klarman clerked for the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit before joining the faculty at the University of Virginia School of Law. He has won numerous awards for his teaching and scholarship and has been inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Pricing
The fee for this course is $350. This fee provides you access to this course for 12 months.
For group pricing, please contact the Harvard Law School Online team at hlsonline@law.harvard.edu to learn more about group pricing opportunities.
Equality: Race and Constitutional History from the Great Migration to Modern Voting Rights (Coming Soon in 2025)
Key topics this course covers are:
Race in the Interwar Period
Race in the World War II Era
Brown Internal Deliberations
Subsequent Desegregation Developments
Race in the Burger and Rehnquist Courts (Affirmative Action)
Race in the Roberts Court (Modern Voting Rights)
Upon completion of a course in the Equality: Race and Constitutional History collection, learners will receive a Certificate of Completion. Please note that the courses in the collection are ungraded and that no degree or course credit toward a degree is awarded for completion.
Each course includes the opportunity to participate in a one hour remote synchronous learning session (on Zoom), live with Professor Klarman and fellow learners. Please note that session participation is optional and not required to earn a Certificate of Completion. The session will take place after all course modules have been released.
COMING SOON!
Equality: Race and Constitutional History from the Great Migration to Modern Voting Rights will launch in 2025. Check back here for details and sign up to receive updates about the course launch.
Harvard is authorized to offer distance education under the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA), an agreement that allows institutions of higher education in Massachusetts to offer distance education to students residing in other states that participate in SARA. For information about SARA-related student complaint processes for distance education students, please see https://vpal.harvard.edu/nc-sara.
