Author Archives: Oer Project Participants

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

January 18, 2019 10:58 pm /

Submitted by:  Matthew Perry, Assistant Professor, Dept. of History, John Jay College

Click here to read:  Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

“I have found that students often use the language of “rights” when discussing the concepts of justice and (especially) injustice. This document is a valuable tool for getting students to think precisely about the concept of human rights, and the historical development of these ideas. The very idea of “human” rights supposes that these rights always have (or should have) existed. This claim, inherent to the document, could be discussed by students: Have some rights always existed, even if not honored? Or are rights necessarily specific to the time and place of their articulation? Will new human rights be discovered or invented in next centuries and millennium? It’s useful to have students consider what is mentioned in the original declaration, and what is left out. Students can then discuss how this document helps to define or explain the concept of justice.” (Comment by Perry, 2019)

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was issued by the United Nations in 1948. It is an important document because it represents a global (although there’s room for discussion of this point given the limited African and Asian membership in the UN at the time) effort to establish a common understanding of what constitutes “human rights”—a critical issue in modern understandings of justice.

Free and open access.

Posted in: 1900-1949, Global, Part 1: Texts for Teaching and Learning about Justice / Tagged: , , ,

Frederick Douglass, “Speech on the Dred Scott Decision”, May 1857

January 12, 2019 5:09 pm /

Submitted by: Jamie Longazel, Associate Professor, Dept. of Political Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

“I was at a large assembly with a political group in October 2018 as the news came out that the U.S. Senate voted 50-48 to confirm Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the United States Supreme Court. This had a lot of people upset; many at our gathering were losing hope for meaningful social change, as pundits warned that this would shape the nature of the high court for at least a generation. That is until one of the event’s speaker’s brought up and quoted extensively from this remarkable speech. It had been my first time hearing about it, and it certainly elevated my sense of hope. What it says to me is that, even in what might seem like the darkest of times, people can get together – indeed, they’ve done it before, particularly in the abolitionist movement – and overcome. As we face possible climate destruction and other contemporary horrors, this is a piece I highly recommend reading for inspiration to keep on moving forward in the struggle for justice.” (Comment by Longazel, 2019)

Click to read online:  Frederick Douglass, “Speech on the Dred Scott Decision”

Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), also known as the Dred Scott case or Dred Scott decision, was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on U.S. labor law and constitutional law. It held that “a negro, whose ancestors were imported into [the U.S.], and sold as slaves,”whether enslaved or free, could not be an American citizen, and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court, and that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories acquired after the creation of the United States. Dred Scott, an enslaved man of “the negro African race” who had been taken by his owners to free states and territories, attempted to sue for his freedom. In a 7–2 decision written by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, the court denied Scott’s request. The decision was only the second time that the Supreme Court had ruled an Act of Congress to be unconstitutional.

This speech is in the public domain.

Posted in: 1700-1899, Part 1: Texts for Teaching and Learning about Justice, US / Tagged: , , , ,

“Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 1963

January 12, 2019 3:46 pm /

Submitted by:  Jamie Longazel, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

“This speech is perhaps most remembered as King’s articulation of his philosophy of non-violent civil disobedience. For that, it is certainly worth a read. But I think it can also be taken as a ‘how-to’ guide for modern activists. Either way, as is the case with most all of King’s speeches, you’re bound to find yourself inspired by his beautiful oration. Here’s one of the letter’s most quoted passages: “I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.” (Comment by Longazel, 2019)

Click on link to read the abridged letter:  Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail” 

The Letter from Birmingham Jail, also known as the Letter from Birmingham City Jail and The Negro Is Your Brother, is an open letter written on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King Jr. The letter defends the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism.

This letter is in the public domain. Source: TeachingAmericanHistory.org a project of the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University.

Posted in: 1950-1969, Part 1: Texts for Teaching and Learning about Justice, US / Tagged: , , , ,

“The Future of the Negro and the Future of the Nation”, Speech by James Baldwin, 1963

November 9, 2018 6:35 pm /

Submitted by:  Olivera Jokic, Associate Professor, English and Gender Studies, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Click here to view online: “The Future of the Negro and the Future of the Nation,” Speech by James Baldwin, 1963

 Writer James Baldwin speaks on “The Negro and The American Promise” about the “the future of the Negro in this country,” which is precisely as bright or as dark as the future of the country.”

Speech from YouTube. Use for educational purposes under the Fair Use provision of the copyright act.

Posted in: 1950-1969, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , ,

Crime and Criminals: Address to the Prisoners in the Chicago Jail, Speech by Clarence Darrow, 1902

November 9, 2018 6:12 pm /

Submitted by:  Jamie Longazel, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, John Jay College

“Clarence Darrow’s resume as an attorney is vast and eclectic. Here, as he speaks directly to a group of prisoners, he raises fundamental questions about morality and justice in the context of crime and punishment. To me, this is a must-read for any student of criminology and/or law, as it challenges us to ‘delink’ what is considered “legal / illegal” from assessments of what is “moral / immoral.” Who is really doing the most social harm? Are they being punished? Who does the criminal justice system actually serve?” (Comment by Longazel, 2019)

Click here to read online:  Crime and Criminals: Address to the Prisoners in the Chicago Jail by Clarence Darrow

Darrow’s Crime & Criminals, originally published 1902 is a little masterpiece in the literature of social criticism and the struggle for freedom. Darrow offers the man in the street – or more precisely in this case, in jail – a crash course in the theory and practice of law and criminology. He discusses what crime is, what causes it, why more people go to jail in winter than in summer, why the real criminals almost never go to prison, why punishment doesn’t work, and – in the end – why the US criminal justice system is in fact a system of injustice, a colossal and barbaric failure. Clarence Darrow (1857-1938) is most well known for his role in the Scopes and Leopold-Loeb trials, but he also defended Eugene Debs, Big Bill Haywood and many other labor, antiwar and civil rights cases.

“Realizing the force of the suggestion that the truth should not be spoken to all people, I have caused these remarks to be printed on rather good paper and in a somewhat expensive form. In this way the truth does not become cheap and vulgar, and is only placed before those whose intelligence and affluence will prevent their being influenced by it.”    —Clarence Darrow

This text is now in the public domain.

Posted in: 1900-1949, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , ,
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