This 6-part series will address recent and past incidents of police violence against African-Americans, as well as the roots of institutional racial violence, its contemporary manifestations, and anti-racist protests. If you are interested in attending this discussion series, please register here. Missouri Bar CLE credit is available.
The Long Assault on the Black Body: From Slavery to Emmett Till
Adrienne Davis, Vice Provost and the William M. Van Cleve Professor of Law, WashULaw
Description: From the moment European ships arrived on the western coasts of Africa, Black bodies have been under assault by Western European law and political systems. This discussion will focus on what makes the United States’ own system of enslavement uniquely brutal and indefensible. It will begin with a brief history of the violence of enslavement and conclude with a discussion about the failure of the legal system to redress the torture and murder of Emmett Till in 1955. This historical background necessarily informs our current moment, what I call “the long summer of Black death.” Click here for optional assigned reading.