You might think you know who wrote the Constitution. Maybe (rich, white, male) politicians like George Washington and James Madison spring to mind. But that's only half the story.
It misses the Black men and women and white abolitionists who rewrote the Constitution after slavery. And it leaves out the immigrants, workers, women, and queer folks who made the reconstructed Constitution theirs.
Reconstructed paints a fuller picture of the many hands that made our Constitution, and explores what their legacies mean for us today.
The Family Values Constitution with Peggy Cooper Davis
Peggy Cooper Davis joined the NYU Law faculty in September 1983 after having served for three years as a judge of the Family Court of the State of New York and having engaged in the practice and administration of law during the preceding 10 years. Her 1997 book, Neglected Stories: The Constitution and Family Values, illuminated the importance of antislavery and civil rights traditions as guides to the scope and meaning of Fourteenth Amendment liberty interests.
Douglass Collective is a community of lawyers and activists working to promote a more inclusive vision of the Constitution. We believe that the abolition of slavery and the Reconstruction Amendments provide a powerful blueprint for a world where we are all more free. By raising awareness of the Constitution’s abolitionist roots, and building community and power around that vision, we will chart a more free and equal future.
Intro Music: "Fantastic Negro Type Beat 'Nigga Song Remix'" by BarzMakesBangers: https://youtu.be/egdj0jlsQHA?si=ddBCdOMxCvMIP4hT
17 Sept 2026
The Insular Cases with Marlee Sonico
Marlee Sonico is an attorney with the law firm of Cozen O'Conner. Before earning their J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, they worked as a staff assistant and voter protection assistant for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and as an operations associate for the Democratic National Committee.
Douglass Collective is a community of lawyers and activists working to promote a more inclusive vision of the Constitution. We believe that the abolition of slavery and the Reconstruction Amendments provide a powerful blueprint for a world where we are all more free. By raising awareness of the Constitution’s abolitionist roots, and building community and power around that vision, we will chart a more free and equal future.
Intro Music: "Fantastic Negro Type Beat 'Nigga Song Remix'" by BarzMakesBangers: https://youtu.be/egdj0jlsQHA?si=ddBCdOMxCvMIP4hT
6 Sept 2026
Why Is There No Socialism in the United States? with James Pope
James Gray Pope is the Distinguished Professor of Law and Sidney Reitman Scholar Emeritus at Rutgers University. Before joining Rutgers in 1986, he worked in a shipyard and represented labor unions at the Boston law firm of Segal, Roitman & Coleman. He has a doctorate in politics from Princeton and specializes in constitutional law, constitutional theory, and labor law.
Douglass Collective is a community of lawyers and activists working to promote a more inclusive vision of the Constitution. We believe that the abolition of slavery and the Reconstruction Amendments provide a powerful blueprint for a world where we are all more free. By raising awareness of the Constitution’s abolitionist roots, and building community and power around that vision, we will chart a more free and equal future.
Intro Music: "Fantastic Negro Type Beat 'Nigga Song Remix'" by BarzMakesBangers: https://youtu.be/egdj0jlsQHA?si=ddBCdOMxCvMIP4hT
20 Aug 2026
The Black Roots of Public Education with Derek Black
Derek Black is a professor of law and the Ernest F. Hollings Chair in Constitutional Law at the University of South Carolina School of Law. He also directs the law school’s Constitutional Law Center. His areas of expertise include education law and policy, constitutional law, and civil rights. The focus of his current scholarship is the intersection of constitutional law and public education, particularly as it pertains to educational equality and fairness for disadvantaged students.
Douglass Collective is a community of lawyers and activists working to promote a more inclusive vision of the Constitution. We believe that the abolition of slavery and the Reconstruction Amendments provide a powerful blueprint for a world where we are all more free. By raising awareness of the Constitution’s abolitionist roots, and building community and power around that vision, we will chart a more free and equal future.
Freedom Readers (https://freedomreaders.org/) by Tracy Swinton-Bailey
Intro Music: "Fantastic Negro Type Beat 'Nigga Song Remix'" by BarzMakesBangers: https://youtu.be/egdj0jlsQHA?si=ddBCdOMxCvMIP4hT
6 Aug 2026
A History of Gender Transitions with Brianne Felsher
Long before today's debates over trans rights, Americans were legally changing their sex. As far back as the 1800s, courts and local governments occasionally recognized gender transitions—issuing new documents and revising the legal record.
From 19th-century courtrooms to modern ID laws, Brianne Felsher (they/them), a PhD Candidate in Jurisprudence and Social Policy at Berkeley Law, explains the surprisingly long history of legal sex changes, and what it reveals about the fight for gender freedom today.
Douglass Collective is a community of lawyers and activists working to promote a more inclusive vision of the Constitution. We believe that the abolition of slavery and the Reconstruction Amendments provide a powerful blueprint for a world where we are all more free. By raising awareness of the Constitution’s abolitionist roots, and building community and power around that vision, we will chart a more free and equal future.
Intro Music: "Fantastic Negro Type Beat 'Nigga Song Remix'" by BarzMakesBangers: https://youtu.be/egdj0jlsQHA?si=ddBCdOMxCvMIP4hT
23 Jul 2026
A Nation of Immigrants? with Karla McKanders
Karla McKanders is an expert in critical race theory and immigration law, who directs the Thurgood Marshall Institute at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Douglass Collective is a community of lawyers and activists working to promote a more inclusive vision of the Constitution. We believe that the abolition of slavery and the Reconstruction Amendments provide a powerful blueprint for a world where we are all more free. By raising awareness of the Constitution’s abolitionist roots, and building community and power around that vision, we will chart a more free and equal future.
Intro Music: "Fantastic Negro Type Beat 'Nigga Song Remix'" by BarzMakesBangers: https://youtu.be/egdj0jlsQHA?si=ddBCdOMxCvMIP4hT
9 Jul 2026
The Second Founding and the First Amendment with William M. Carter, Jr.
William M. Carter, Jr. is the Judge J. Quint Salmon and Anne Salmon Chaired Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He specializes in constitutional law, civil rights, race and the law, and civil litigation. An award-winning teacher, he has been selected as Professor of the Year by vote of the student body on four separate occasions. Carter is widely considered to be one of the leading experts on the Thirteenth Amendment and racial discrimination.
Douglass Collective is a community of lawyers and activists working to promote a more inclusive vision of the Constitution. We believe that the abolition of slavery and the Reconstruction Amendments provide a powerful blueprint for a world where we are all more free. By raising awareness of the Constitution’s abolitionist roots, and building community and power around that vision, we will chart a more free and equal future.
Intro Music: "Fantastic Negro Type Beat 'Nigga Song Remix'" by BarzMakesBangers: https://youtu.be/egdj0jlsQHA?si=ddBCdOMxCvMIP4hT
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