Civil Rights in the Trump Era Teach-Out

Charles Sumner (1811-1874)

Famously assaulted by Representative Preston Brooks after an impassioned speech in which Sumner criticized Andrew Butler, a South Carolina senator (and Brooks's second cousin), Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner was a staunch abolitionist. The assault served as a powerful symbol of the tension between the North and South in the years leading up to the Civil War. After recovering from the assault, Sumner returned to the Senate and continued to fight for abolition. After the war and the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, Sumner advocated for full political and civil rights for African Americans and authored one of the first civil rights bills.

Sam Bell-Gurwitz (Charles Sumner) is a senior BFA performance major at the University of Michigan and is from Newton, Massachusetts.