Honor the Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. with the Annual "With Liberty and Justice For All Symposium" at The Henry Ford

University of Michigan Professor Martha S. Jones

Symposium begins at 10 a.m. in Anderson Theatre on Jan. 17

Dearborn, MI – To celebrate the spirit and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., The Henry Ford will hold its sixth annual With Liberty and Justice for All Symposium on Jan. 17. This year’s program features legal scholar and University of Michigan historian, Professor Martha S. Jones, followed by a dramatic reading by a Henry Ford Academy student and a panel discussion with high school students from around the metro area. The symposium begins at 10 a.m. in Anderson Theatre, inside Henry Ford Museum. Admission is free; however, advance reservations are preferred. To reserve a seat, please visit www.thehenryford.org.

This annual symposium began in 2006 to celebrate the opening of With Liberty and Justice for All in Henry Ford Museum, a ground-breaking exhibit that explores the proud and often painful evolution of American freedom. Each year the symposium strives to bring together guest speakers, high school students and the public to explore and discuss the changing nature of freedom in American history.

Professor Martha S. Jones will speak about the time after the Civil War when communities struggled to transition from a slave-holding society to a non-slave holding society. Focusing her research on the courthouse records of Baltimore, Maryland, a state that stayed in the Union although it permitted slave-holding, Professor Jones is studying how African-Americans used legal culture to make claims about rights and citizenship, and how their ideas clashed with the view of state law makers and judges.

Martha S. Jones is associate professor of history and Afro-American Studies, and visiting professor of law at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is the author of All Bound Up Together: The Woman Question in African American Public Culture, 1830-1900 (2007), which examines nineteenth-century debates over the rights of women.

Following her presentation, Henry Ford Academy student Norrell Gilbert will present a dramatic reading of an excerpt from the famous 1978 Howard University address by Thurgood Marshall, a Baltimore native who became the first African-American member of the U.S. Supreme Court. The final part of the symposium will be a panel discussion composed of students from Novi, Redford Union and Warren Mott High Schools who will discuss the themes of the day, facilitated by Professor Jones.

About The Henry Ford 
The Henry Ford, in Dearborn, Michigan, is the world’s premier history destination and a National Historic Landmark that celebrates American history and innovation. Its mission is to provide unique educational experiences based on authentic objects, stories and lives from America’s traditions of ingenuity, resourcefulness and innovation. Its purpose is to inspire people to learn from these traditions to help shape a better future. Five distinct attractions at The Henry Ford captivate more than 1.6 million visitors annually: Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village, The Ford Rouge Factory Tour, The Benson Ford Research Center and The Henry Ford IMAX Theatre. The Henry Ford is also home to Henry Ford Academy, a public charter high school which educates 485 students a year on the institution’s campus and was founded in partnership with The Henry Ford, Ford Motor Company and Wayne County Public Schools. For more information please visit our website www.thehenryford.org.