Individual study space @ Research Commons now available by reservation. All other Libraries spaces are closed. Online resources and support are available 24/7! UW Constitution Read Aloud
Annual reading of the U.S. Constitution, sponsored by the University of Washington Libraries
2020 UW Constitution Read Aloud
Friday, October 9, 2020
2020 UW Constitution Read Aloud Recording (YouTube playlist)
Join us for a live, streaming event featuring remarks from Dr. Camille Walsh and Dr. Sara Curran on passages in the Constitution related to voting rights and the decennial Census, respectively, and the impact the Constitution continues to have on our lives to this day. The UW Libraries will also stream a video of over 90 UW students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members reading the entirety of the Constitution.
Speaker Bios
Dr. Camille Walsh, Associate Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at UW Bothell, researches the interdisciplinary intersections of law, inequality, race and class and the implications of particular historical processes on social justice movements around access to education. Dr. Walsh’s 2018 book, Racial Taxation: Schools, Segregation and Taxpayer Citizenship, 1869-1973 explores the ramifications for educational policy of unequal and racialized taxation and funding in K-12 public schools.
Dr. Sara Curran, Professor of International Studies and Sociology and Director of the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology at UW Seattle, researches migration, globalization, gender, climate change and adaptation, and development. In June, Dr. Curran and other faculty were awarded a National Science Foundation RAPID grant to study demographic and social disparities in responses to COVID-19 information and dis/misinformation.
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Acknowledgements
As mandated by Congress, "[E]ach educational institution that receives Federal funds for a fiscal year shall hold an educational program on the United States Constitution on September 17 of such year for the students served by the educational institution." - Section 111 of Division J of Pub L. 108-447.Because the University is not in session on September 17th, the UW Libraries holds a Constitution event each year in October. Reading the Constitution each year allows us to critically examine the historical and contemporary significance this document holds within our society.See Federal requirement for Constitution Day and more background on Constitution Day & Citizenship Day from the Law Library of CongressResources
- Constitution of the United States: A Transcription
- Gallagher Law Library's Guide to the U.S. Constitution and Related Sources
Suggested Readings
- Ackerman, Bruce. The Living Constitution.
- Franks, Mary Anne. The Cult of the Constitution.
- Marietta, Morgan. The Right to Vote is Not in the Constitution.
- Nieman, Donald G. Promises to Keep: African Americans and the Constitutional Order, 1776 to the Present.
- Pommersheim, Frank. Broken Landscape: Indians, Indian Tribes, and the Constitution.
Media
- 13th Annual Reading of the U.S. Constitution at UW - UW YouTube, Oct. 5, 2018
- No Simple Contract: UW Community Members Read the Constitution - KUOW, Oct. 13, 2017
- Listen as Many Voices Bring the Constitution to Life - KUOW, Oct. 13, 2016
Photos taken during the 2017 & 2018 Constitution Reading.