Dr. Al Brophy of the University of North Carolina participated in the most recent Discourse in Democracy event. He spoke on “Reading the Great Constitutional Dream Book” which traced the origins of the idea of equality in the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education to its roots among African American intellectuals. Those long-ignored people, like W.E.B. DuBois and many others now forgotten, argued for a doctrine of equal treatment and campaigned for it in the pages of African American newspapers, periodicals, books, and ultimately the courts. The lecture showed how humble people, at the margin of US society, changed culture, politics, and law.
He conducted two afternoon seminars for small groups of undergraduate and graduate students and that evening delivered a lecture on the topic in Alkek Teaching Theater. Attended by some 200 students, faculty and members of the community, it was another successful Discourse in Democracy event.
