Ferndale High School Civics Students Get a Glimpse of the Study of Law

May 1, 2023

MSU College of Law students (from left) Hannah Gates, ‘25, Morgan Henry, ‘23 and Taylor Hall, ‘23, talk with Ferndale High AP Civics students as part of the Citing Slavery Project’s Educational Outreach initiative.

Michigan State University College of Law students Taylor Hall, ‘23, Hannah Gates, ‘25, and Morgan Henry, ‘23, along with Professor Justin Simard, hosted students from Ferndale High School’s AP Civics course last Thursday as part of The Citing Slavery Project’s Educational Outreach initiative.

The Citing Slavery Project was a 2022 recipient of grant funds aimed at introducing high school students to the legal profession.

Hall led the outreach with her alma mater along with her former teacher Bob Henderson, a history and social studies teacher at Ferndale.

After the law students visited Henderson’s class at Ferndale earlier in the month, the high school students joined the law students at MSU College of Law Thursday. The visit included a tour of the law school facility, introductory instruction on legal citation, legal precedent, and the doctrine of stare decisis (stand by things decided) in the law school’s mock trial courtroom. Afterward, Professor Simard provided history on the Citing Slavery Project.

The Project confronts the legal profession’s role in slavery and provides a database of slave cases as well as the modern cases that continue to cite slave cases as precedent.

American slavery generated thousands of legal disputes and lawyers legitimized slavery by fitting the cases involving enslaved people into standard legal categories, weaving the law of slavery into the fabric of American law.

American courts directly participated in slave commerce, frequently auctioning enslaved people to satisfy debts. Sometimes the sales took place on courthouse steps and forcibly separated families.

After emancipation, lawyers continued to treat slave cases as good law, enforcing debts based on contracts for enslaved people.

The Citing Slavery Project seeks to have lawyers and judges acknowledge their part and discontinue the citation of slave cases to support fundamental legal propositions, because these citation practices continue to cause serious harm and reveal the legal profession’s ethical limitations.

“At a time when other American groups and institutions from businesses to universities are coming to grips with the legacy of slavery, the legal profession must do the same,” Simard said.

After the brief lecture, students were able to review purchase agreements and case law arising out of the practice of slavery, identifying the documents and how it made them feel.

Following the presentation, the students were able to have lunch with MSU College of Law students and faculty.

Professors Jacob Bronsther and Catherine Grosso shared additional perspectives on careers in law and provided advice on course selection, extra-curricular activities, and internships that may assist aspiring attorneys on the pathway to the profession.