The Clemson University Humanities Hub’s annual Lectures in Law and Humanities Series, sponsored by Loebsack & Brownlee, PLLC, is returning with a focus on First Amendment rights. The keynote lecture, “The First Amendment and Lincoln’s Constitutional Legacy” will be delivered by historian, author and retired Clemson professor Orville Vernon Burton on March 5 at 5:00 p.m. on the Watt Auditorium.
“The First Amendment guarantees our right to speak, write, worship, and assemble freely, and those freedoms are the bedrock of our constitutionally protected liberties in the United States,” said David Coombs, director of the Humanities Hub. “The vision of freedom the First Amendment enshrined in law is now more than ever worth re-committing to through serious study and reflection.”
Keynote Address with Vernon Burton
Burton is the author of “The Age of Lincoln” and the co-author of “Justice Deferred: Race and the Supreme Court.” Born in the small South Carolina town of Ninety-Six, Burton rose to the rank of Captain in the U.S. Army, earned a Ph.D. from Princeton University, and dedicated his distinguished academic career to the study of Civil Rights history. He joined Clemson’s faculty in 2010, and later became the inaugural Judge Matthew Perry Distinguished Chair of History. In 2022, he received the Clemson University Alumni Award for Outstanding Achievements in Research.
Burton is a prolific writer, having authored, co-authored or edited more than 20 books and nearly three hundred articles. He is also a frequent public speaker, media guest, and expert witness in discrimination and voting rights cases. Burton was elected into the S.C. Academy of Authors in 2015, and in 2017 he received the Governor’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Humanities from the South Carolina Humanities Council, and in 2021 he was awarded the Benjamin E. Mays Legacy Award. In 2022, he was appointed to the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission and inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College.
“The history of Lincoln’s complex relationship with constitutional liberties while he worked to keep the country together and eradicate slavery is important to tell here because it exemplifies the continuing importance of the First Amendment to later struggles for freedom in America,” Coombs said. “Vernon Burton is a renowned expert on Lincoln and the Civil War, and we’ve been privileged to have him on our faculty.”
Bringing legal discussions out of the courtroom
Burton’s keynote address is one of several related events organized by the Humanities Hub during the week of March 3-6. The series’ sponsor, Loebsack & Brownlee, PLLC, is led by Clemson alumnus Chris Loebsack ’93, who is also a member of the Clemson Humanities Advancement Board.
Loebsack’s firm endowed the Lectures in Law and Humanities Series five years ago to create opportunities for rigorous dialogue on important issues and to strengthen communities’ understanding of legal principles.
“This year, the Series will highlight the First Amendment, which isn’t just a stuffy constitutional law topic; it is the foundation of the Bill of Rights, and is critical to determining how we navigate our most pressing public debates, from campus controversies to community conversations,” Loebsack said. “What makes this lecture series particularly meaningful is that it brings these critical legal discussions out of the courtroom and into Clemson’s campus environment, where they can inform how students and community members think and discuss the principles that impact our Constitutional Republic.”
He noted that the endowment represents the firm’s commitment to thought leadership, community education and substantive engagement.
Additional Events
A First Amendment Litigation Panel discussion will be held Tuesday, March 3, from 3:30-5 p.m. in the Honors College Great Hall. Clare Norins, director of Georgia’s First Amendment Clinic, and Gabe Walters, from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and other guests will lead the panel.
Also, a Historian’s Roundtable celebrating Burton’s contributions to the field will be held Friday, March 6, from 1:30-3:30 p.m. in Harden 233. Featuring Harris Bailey (independent scholar and Clemson alumnus), Terence Finnegan (William Patterson University), Randal Jelks (Indiana University), Lawrence McDonnell (Iowa State) and Randall Stephen (University of Oslo).
Full Schedule
First Amendment Litigation Panel
Tuesday, March 3
3:30-5 p.m.
Honors College Great Hall
“The First Amendment and Lincoln’s Constitutional Legacy”
Thursday, March 5
5-6:50 p.m.
Watt Auditorium
Historian’s Roundtable
Friday, March 6
1:30-3:30 p.m.
Harden Hall 233
About the Clemson Humanities Hub
With the generous support of the Humanities Advancement Board, the Humanities Hub was created to advance the outreach, scholarship and teaching of the humanities at Clemson. Nicknamed the “HumHub”, the organization aims to coordinate and publicize on-and off-campus humanities events, serving as an outreach center to the community and a localized steward of humanities scholarship and pedagogy on campus. To learn more and keep up with Humanities Hub events, visit their website.
