The Human Rights Curriculum Development Project

Winter 2008 Agenda/Schedule

Lighthouse Paper:

• “When Human Rights Disappear: Observations on Human Rights in History" by Michael Geyer, Samuel N. Harper Professor of German and European History, University of Chicago

Agenda

Feb. 16, Morning Session

• 9:00—11:00 a.m. Historical Approaches to Human Rights Moderated by Bradin Cormack, Associate Professor of English, University of Chicago
  • “When Human Rights Disappear: Observations on Human Rights in History" by Michael Geyer, Samuel N. Harper Professor of German and European History, University of Chicago
• 11:00—11:30 a.m. Coffee Break
• 11:30 a.m.—12:30 p.m. History of Human Rights, Human Rights in History: Human Rights Program Core Course Discussion Coordinated by  Susan Karr, PhD Candidate, Department of History, University of Chicago
  • Kenneth Cmiel, "Review Essay: The Recent History of Human Rights"
  • "Human Rights II: Historical Perspectives" Syllabus
  • "From Natural Law to Human Rights: History of the Western Natural Law and Natural Rights Traditions Up to the French Revolution" Syllabus

Afternoon Session

• 1:30—2:50 p.m. “Natural Rights and Cultural History” Coordinated by Eric Slauter Assistant Professor Department of English and the College, University of Chicago
  Readings:
  • Lynn Hunt, Inventing Human Rights: A History (New York, 2007), pp. 15-69 (and notes, pp. 230-39).
  • David Armitage, "The Declaration of Independence and
    International Law," William and Mary Quarterly, 3d Ser., 59: 1 (Jan. 2002): 39-64.
  • Declaration of Independence (1776):"Rough Draft"; printed
    versions
    
  • Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789) [Hunt's
    translation is on pp. 220-223 of her 2007 book; others are
    available online, e.g., http://www.constitution.org/fr/fr_drm.htm or http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/rightsof.htm]
  • Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776): look at the "First
    Draft," the "Committee Draft," and the "Final Draft"
    

• 2:50—3:00 p.m. Coffee break
• 3:00—4:20 p.m. “Slavery, Antislavery, Emancipation, 1794-2007: Discussion of some not altogether randomly selected documents" Coordinated by  Julie Saville, Associate Professor of History, University of Chicago
  Readings:
  • Louis Delgres, “Proclamation: To the Entire Universe: The last cry of innocence and despair,” (1802), in Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus, eds., Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 1789-1804, pp 171-72.
  • Samuel Wood, Injured Humanity; Being a representation of what the unhappy children of Africa endure from those who call themselves Christians [Printed Broadside, 1805), Gilder Lehrman Center, GLC # 05113.
  • William Lloyd Garrison to Ebenezer Dole, 14 July 1830 [Autograph Letter Signed], Gilder Lehrman Center, GLC # 04516.
  • Angelina Grimké Weld's speech at Pennsylvania Hall (1838), in History of Pennsylvania Hall which was Destroyed by a Mob on the 17th of May, 1838, reprinted in Negro Universities Press, A Division of Greenwood Publishing Corp, New York, 1969, Africans in America, Teachers’ Guide, WGBH | PBS Online.
  • Henry Bram, Ishmael Moultrie, Yates Sampson, Committee to The President of these United States. Edisto Island, [SC] 28 Oct. 1865. (National Archives Microfilm, M 752, r 23, 0435-41).
  • Excerpts. [Speech], "To the Freed People of Orangeburg District," enclosed in Charles C. Soule to O. O. Howard, 12 June 1865, National Archives Microfilm, M 752, r 17, 0053-61.
  • Paul Vitello, “From Stand in Long Island Slavery Case, a Snapshot of a Hidden U.S. Problem," New York Times, 3 Dec 2007.
    
• 4:20—4:30 p.m. Coffee break
• 4:30—5:50 p.m. “Human Rights and Civil Rights: The Case of Marriage” Coordinated by Jane Dailey, Associate Professor of History, University of Chicago
  • Reconstruction Amendments Debates in Congress
  • Constitutional Court of South Africa Fourie Decision

University of Chicago Human Rights Program 5720 S. Woodlawn Avenue • Chicago, IL 60637 Telephone: 773-834-0957 • Email: human-rights@uchicago.edu