Dr. Finkelman
The University of Hawai`i at Hilo commemorates Constitution Day and the 150 th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation with a free, public address by prominent historian Paul Finkelman. The event will be held on Wednesday, September 19 at 6:30 p.m. in UCB 100 with a reception and refreshments to follow in UCB 127.
Finkelman, a John Hope Franklin Visiting Professor of American Legal History at Duke Law School and President William McKinley Professor of Law and Public Policy at Albany Law School, will speak on “Ending Slavery Under a Pro-slavery Constitution: Was the Emancipation Proclamation Constitutional?”
A specialist in American legal history, constitutional law, and race and the law, Finkelman is the author of more than 150 scholarly articles and more than 30 books. He was recently named the ninth most cited legal historian according to “Brian Leiter’s Law School Rankings.”
Finkelman was the chief expert witness in the Alabama Ten Commandments monument case and his scholarship on religious monuments in public spaces was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in Van Orden v. Perry (2005). The nation’s high court has also cited his scholarship on the Second Amendment. In 2002, Finkelman was a key expert witness in the suit over who owned Barry Bonds’ 73rd home run ball.
The event is sponsored by the UH Hilo Social Sciences Division, History Department, Political Science Department, Sociology Department, History Club, and Political Science Club
