Annual UW Constitution Reading

As part of the Federal requirement to provide educational programming on the US Constitution aligned with the national Constitution Day and Citizenship Day*, the UW Libraries holds an annual Constitution read aloud event. We welcome students, faculty, staff and community members to join us in reading the full text of the Constitution, including some very special guest speakers!

This community-led reading allows us to critically examine the historical and contemporary significance this document holds within our society.

For many years this event brought dozens of participants together inside the library to read the full text of the constitution live and in-person. In recent years, and during the pandemic, we have been experimenting with different formats and continue to evolve the programming each year to increase accessibility and participation both in-person and online.

*Because UW is not in session during this day, the Libraries hosts this celebration in October, when students and faculty are back on campus.

2022 Event

2022 Event Recording (Link to YouTube)

About the Speaker

Professor La TaSha Levy (American Ethnic Studies, UW Seattle) is a Black Studies scholar specializing in post-WWII African American politics, Black intellectual history and Black Women’s studies. Levy offered one of the first college courses on #BlackLivesMatter in 2015, which garnered local and national coverage. Levy’s book manuscript titled Race Matters in the GOP traces the ideological shift in Black Republican politics during the early post-civil rights era, for which she was awarded two fellowships.

Photos from the 2017 & 2018 UW Constitution read alouds