Supreme Court Learning Center offers webcasts, other educational resources for Constitution Day

Educators looking for ways to observe Constitution Day with their students can turn to the Michigan Supreme Court Learning Center for help. Federal law requires that all schools that receive public funding must teach about the U.S. Constitution on or near Sept. 17, the date the Constitution was signed in 1787. Learning Center resources include ideas for Constitution Day activities, lesson plans about the justice system, mock trial scripts, a webcast "teen court" proceeding, and more. Resources are online at http://www.courts.michigan.gov/plc/resources/curriculum.htm. Other resources include a webcast reenactment of the Ossian Sweet trial, a landmark case involving an African-American doctor and his wife who moved into an all-white Detroit neighborhood in 1925. Fearing violence, the couple and some friends armed themselves; when an angry mob gathered outside, someone from inside the Sweet home shot and killed one of the group. Famed Michigan lawyer Clarence Darrow successfully defended Dr. Sweet against murder charges by arguing that the killing was done in self-defense. The webcast and related materials are online at http://www.courts.michigan.gov/plc/sweet/trial.html. Also available is a webcast discussion of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1896 ruling in Plessy v Ferguson, which established the "separate but equal" doctrine that was used to justify racial segregation; decades later, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Plessy in Brown v Board of Education in 1954. Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert P. Young Jr. analyzes how Plessy v Ferguson violated constitutional principles, and discusses the decision's impact on American life. A study guide and link to the webcast are available at http://www.courts.michigan.gov/plc/MGTVinterviewRPY/RPY.pdf. The Learning Center will also mark Constitution Day on Wednesday, Sept. 19, with visits from 4th graders at Lake Orion's Paint Creek Elementary. Starting at 10:30 a.m., groups of students will re-enact the signing of the Constitution, based on the famous 1940 painting by Howard Chandler Christy. For additional information about the Learning Center and its programs, visit http://www.courts.michigan.gov/plc/. Published: Fri, Sep 14, 2012