African American Lives
If you missed the first two installments of this series tonight, don't miss the next one (Wednesday, Feb. 8, on PBS). In commemoration of Black History Month, this show tells the story of the Black experience in America by tracing the genealogy of 9 remarkable Americans -- Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Tucker, Quincy Jones, Dr. Mae Jemison, Dr. Ben Carson, Bishop T.D. Jakes, and Dr. Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot.
A profoundly moving series, frank and poignant and direct about the conditions these individuals' ancestors endured; the message is who we are today is so inseparably connected with those who came before us. Their triumphs become our triumphs, their sorrows our sorrows.
We must not forget.
*****
I am struck by the importance of story-telling for knowing who we are and understanding how we got here and why things are the way they are. It seems to me that a central feature of the Law School experience is story-telling. Not only in how as lawyers we must craft the persuasive message for the trier of fact, but also and especially in how we absorb the principles of the law. For that is what all this case law is: stories of people who became entangled in argument with their neighbor or pulled along by social forces beyond their making, and the story of how their lives come together to make the stream of experience we call common law.
Do you know your story?
A profoundly moving series, frank and poignant and direct about the conditions these individuals' ancestors endured; the message is who we are today is so inseparably connected with those who came before us. Their triumphs become our triumphs, their sorrows our sorrows.
We must not forget.
*****
I am struck by the importance of story-telling for knowing who we are and understanding how we got here and why things are the way they are. It seems to me that a central feature of the Law School experience is story-telling. Not only in how as lawyers we must craft the persuasive message for the trier of fact, but also and especially in how we absorb the principles of the law. For that is what all this case law is: stories of people who became entangled in argument with their neighbor or pulled along by social forces beyond their making, and the story of how their lives come together to make the stream of experience we call common law.
Do you know your story?
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