bring your mind to everlasting liberty.
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I'll be in Washington next week to moderate a conversation between the historian Eric Foner and former Attorney General Eric Holder. We'll be talking about Foner's new book, "The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution." |
It's a slim volume, but Foner dives deep, excavating the most important details and dynamics behind the construction of the amendments. Whether you're familiar or unfamiliar with the debates and arguments over Reconstruction, the book has a lot to chew on and is absolutely worth your time. |
One of the things I've been chewing on is Foner's argument about the 13th Amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: |
| Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. |
For Foner, this "deceptively straightforward language" raised "profound questions about American society," which politicians considered and debated as they fought to ratify the amendment. Most Republicans, Foner explains, "assumed that freedom meant more than not being chained and that abolition would expand the rights of whites as well as blacks." They also believed that the amendment's enforcement clause empowered Congress to protect the basic rights of the formerly enslaved and all other Americans. |
 | | Eric Foner.Dorothy Hong for The New York Times |
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Here's where it gets interesting. In the Civil Rights Cases of 1883, the Supreme Court held that the 13th Amendment empowered Congress to "pass all laws necessary and proper for abolishing all badges and incidents of slavery in the United States." At the time, argues legal scholar Jennifer Mason McAward, "badges and incidents" had a narrow scope, referring to the "legal restrictions imposed by states on the civil rights of freed slaves." This strict understanding of the amendment's enforcement power limited Congress's ability to protect the rights of freed people from private, discriminatory action. The court would embrace an even stricter understanding in the 1906 Hodges v. United States, when it held that Congress only had the power to legislate regarding the actual condition of slavery. |
The court would stick with this view until Jones v. Alfred H. Meyer Co. in 1968, when it tackled the question of privately enforced housing discrimination. There, it concluded that the "authority of Congress to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment" included the power to "eliminate all racial barriers to the acquisition of real and personal property." It clothed lawmakers with power "to pass all laws necessary and proper for abolishing all badges and incidents of slavery in the United States." With that said, the court concluded that "when racial discrimination herds men into ghettos and makes their ability to buy property turn on the color of their skin, then it too is a relic of slavery." |
This ruling suggests an expansive reading of the 13th Amendment. "But the Court has never gone on to define more broadly the 'badges and incidents' of bondage," notes Foner. "Its latent power," he continues, "has almost never been invoked as a weapon against the racism that forms so powerful a legacy of American slavery." |
But it could. If the "badges and incidents" of slavery include racial discrimination and inequality, then the amendment gives the federal government a definitive mandate to tackle racism in American society. What is a constitutional dead letter could be resurrected as a powerful tool for building a more equitable society. It is a live option, whenever progressives win enough power in the legislature and the judiciary to act decisively on behalf of the country. It's thrilling to think about, and I'm looking forward to raising these possibilities in my conversation with Foner and Holder next week. |
I used Bernie Sanders's new plan for labor as an excuse to explore a pivotal year in the history of strikes: |
| In 1934, the historian Irving Bernstein writes in "The Turbulent Years: A History of the American Worker, 1933-1941," "there were 1856 work stoppages involving 1,470,000 workers, by far the highest count in both categories in many years." In that year, nearly five years into the Great Depression, "labor's mood was despair compounded with hope." |
Also, I was on The Daily Show last night, talking about the latest Democratic presidential debate with Trevor Noah. You can watch the full segment here. |
Megan Garber on work and relationship in "Friends," for The Atlantic. |
Jonah Weiner profiles the comedian John Mulaney for Esquire. |
Sarah Churchwell on the racist history of American immigration law, for the New York Review of Books. |
If you're enjoying what you're reading, please consider recommending it to friends. They can sign up here. If you want to share your thoughts on an item in this week's newsletter or on the newsletter in general, please email me at jamelle-newsletter@nytimes.com. |
 | | A set of graves in Woodlawn Cemetery.Jamelle Bouie |
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I don't think it's too weird to say that I really like cemeteries, and always make a point of visiting historic ones whenever I get the chance. During my trip to New York, I took the train up to Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. It's a massive cemetery, one of the largest in the city, which has graves and mausoleums from as far back as the mid-19th century. Some structures — like Jay Gould's imposing, Roman-esque mausoleum — are truly impressive. Others, like the one featured here, are a little more humble. Simple works of sculpture meant to mark a life. I liked how peaceful this was, and took a few photos from a couple different angles and positions. This is the one that best captures how I felt in the moment. |
As with last week's photo, I took this on a Leica range finder with black-and-white Kodak film. |
Now Eating: Sheet-Pan Harissa Salmon With Potatoes and Citrus |
I've been very busy the past two weeks, without a ton of time to cook or plan meals. Sheet-pan meals are my solution to this problem. They are very easy to put together and require little time or effort. And in the case of this recipe, it was a good excuse to use the jar of harissa I had in my pantry. I have no changes to this recipe, which comes from The New York Times Cooking section, other than that you should be very liberal with the marinade. And more potatoes never hurt anyone. |
- 4 (6-ounce) skin-on salmon fillets, about 1- to 1½-inches thick
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 2 to 3 tablespoons mild or spicy harissa paste, depending on your preference
- 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
- 1 garlic clove, grated
- ½ teaspoon orange zest
- ¼ cup orange juice (from about ½ orange)
- 1 pound small potatoes, such as baby red or fingerlings, cut in half lengthwise
- 1 small red onion, peeled, quartered and cut into ½-inch wedges
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ cup cilantro, roughly chopped, both leaves and tender stems
- 3 tablespoons scallions, thinly sliced on an angle, both white and green parts
- flaky salt, for serving
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Heat oven to 450 degrees. Lay salmon on a plate, and season with salt and pepper. In a shallow bowl, whisk together harissa, ginger, garlic, orange zest and juice. Spoon the mixture over the flesh and sides of the fish, and let marinate at room temperature. |
Meanwhile, line a sheet pan with parchment paper (or use a nonstick sheet pan). In a large bowl, toss together the potatoes and onion with the olive oil, and season well with salt and pepper. Arrange them on the sheet pan in one layer, leaving 4 spaces for the salmon fillets to be added later. Roast until the potatoes are beginning to brown and are almost cooked through, about 20 minutes. |
Add the salmon to the sheet pan skin-side down, and roast until the fish is opaque and cooked through and the potatoes are crisp, about 8 minutes more. Scatter cilantro and scallions over everything, and season with flaky salt. |
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