Former U.S. Commission on Civil Rights chair to deliver Constitution Day lecture

William B. Allen, emeritus dean of the James Madison College and emeritus professor of political science at Michigan State University, will deliver a lecture Wednesday, Sept. 15 at Texas State University as part of the Constitution Day observance.  

“The Constitution as Critical History” lecture will begin at 7 p.m. at the Alkek Teaching Theater. It is open to the general public.

Allen is a former member and chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and has been a Kellogg National Fellow, Fulbright Fellow and a member of the National Council on the Humanities. He has published several books, including George Washington: America’s First Progressive and Rethinking Uncle Tom: The Political Philosophy of H. B. Stowe. He also edited collections including George Washington: A Collection and The Essential Antifederalist and has published numerous scholarly articles on political philosophy and American political thought.

The  Constitution Day event is sponsored by the Texas State Department of Political Science and the Jack C. Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History.

Constitution Day commemorates the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution by 39 delegates to the Constitutional Convention on Sept. 17, 1787. All publicly funded educational institutions and all federal agencies are required to provide educational programming on the history of the  Constitution.