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37th Annual Nathaniel L. Nathanson Memorial Lecture: Tomiko Brown-Nagin

37th Annual Nathaniel L. Nathanson Memorial Lecture: Tomiko Brown-Nagin

Date and Time

Monday, March 28, 2022

This event occurred in the past

  • Monday, March 28, 2022 from 12 p.m. to 12:50 p.m.

Location

Zoom (please register to receive the meeting link)

5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110

Cost

0

Sponsor(s)

Details

The USD School of Law invites you to join us for the 37th annual Nathaniel L. Nathanson Memorial Lecture Series on Monday, March 28 at Noon (Pacific). Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin will discuss her book Civil Rights Queen, the first major biography of Constance Baker Motley—a legendary crusader for civil rights—that provides a masterful and eye-opening account of the twin struggles for racial and gender equality in twentieth-century America.

"A seminal biography of an extraordinary figure…a magisterial work that befits its subject.”—Ibram X. Kendi, bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist


Born to an aspirational working-class family during the Great Depression, Constance Baker Motley was expected to make a career as a hairdresser. Instead, she earned a law degree and used it to transform American society. For many years the only woman member of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s legal team, Motley helped litigate Brown v. Board of Education, defended Martin Luther King in Birmingham and played a critical role in vanquishing Jim Crow laws throughout the South. During a second act, she broke barriers in politics by becoming the first woman elected borough president of Manhattan and the first black woman elected to the New York State Senate. In a third act that capped her career, she was the first black woman appointed to the federal judiciary, becoming both a symbol of change in the American power structure and a part of it—an outsider within the system that she had long fought.  
 
This deeply researched and incisive examination of gender, race, and class tells the inspiring story of a remarkable American life and of a tumultuous period of social change. Against the backdrop of Motley’s pathbreaking life, Tomiko Brown-Nagin ponders some of our most timeless and urgent questions: How do historically marginalized people access the corridors of power? How does access to power shape individuals committed to social justice? And what is the price of the ticket?

TOMIKO BROWN-NAGIN is Dean of Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School, and Professor of History at Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In 2019, she was appointed chair of the Presidential Committee on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of the American Philosophical Society, and of the American Law Institute, and a distinguished lecturer for the Organization of American Historians. Her previous book, Courage to Dissent won the Bancroft Prize in 2011. She frequently appears as a commentator in media. She lives in Boston with her family.

Event Registration Details

USD Students are invited to a Watch Party in the Grace Courtroom to view the lecture. A grab-n-go lunch will be provided after the lecture. Students, please use this link to register for the Watch Party and lunch order form. 

Non-students, please use this link to register to receive your personalized, secure link to the lecture.

 

  • About the Nathaniel L. Nathanson Memorial Lecture Series

    This lecture series was established in 1984 to honor Nathaniel L. Nathanson, an esteemed law professor who devoted his life to the law and legal education. The series brings distinguished speakers to the University of San Diego to discuss issues of national significance.

    Nathanson, a graduate of Yale University, Yale Law School and Harvard Law School, served as law clerk to the Honorable Julian Mack of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, as well as to the Honorable Louis D. Brandeis of the Supreme Court of the United States. He taught law at Northwestern University School of Law from 1936 to 1977, where he was named professor emeritus. That same year, he was named a distinguished professor of law at the University of San Diego. He spent alternate semesters at the two law schools until his death in 1983. Also receiving the benefit of his wisdom were Stanford University, Rutgers University, the University of Washington, Arizona State University and the University of Tokyo.

    Nathanson was best known for his work in the areas of administrative law, constitutional law, civil liberties, international law and human rights. In these and other areas, he authored or served as editor of seven books and published almost 100 major articles, reviews and papers. He continued to pursue these interests through service to government, the American Society of Legal Studies, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Constitutional Convention of Palau, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith.

    The University of San Diego greatly benefited from the presence of this eminent professor and is pleased to present this lecture series in his memory.

Civil Rights Queen by Tomiko Brown-Nagin

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