UNC Constitution Day to Feature NC Justice Center Director Reggie Shuford ’91

Each year, UNC School of Law organizes the campus-wide Constitution Day celebration to commemorate September 17, the day on which the Constitution of the United States was signed. Constitution Day allows schools and colleges across the country to reflect on United States history, the deeper meanings within the Constitution and hopes it represents for the future.  

The law school will celebrate the federal observance this year on September 26 with a fireside chat at noon in room 5042, featuring double Tar Heel Reggie Shuford ’91, executive director of the N.C. Justice Center and Martin H. Brinkley ’92, dean and William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of Law where Shuford will discuss his civil rights work and perspectives on the Constitution.  

Shuford has dedicated his career to advancing racial justice through impactful legal advocacy. He successfully challenged laws on voting rights and marriage equality while leading the ACLU of Pennsylvania for more than a decade. He has since been recognized nationally for his civil rights leadership, including five times by The Philadelphia Tribune as Most Influential African American Leader. 

“Since leaving North Carolina in 1995, I have been privileged to do constitutional and human rights work at the national and state levels advancing racial and social justice, including helping to pioneer racial profiling litigation, representing men assumed to be Arab or Muslim and denied passage on airlines in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, defeating voter ID legislation, and securing marriage equality in Pennsylvania well before it became the law of the land,” says Shuford. “In the past few years, especially, I have felt compelled to return home to help fight for the full inclusion, equal opportunity, and first-class citizenship of all North Carolinians. I am honored to now be at the NC Justice Center, one of the state’s preeminent advocacy organizations, doing the vital work necessary to make that vision a reality.”

At this Constitution Day event, the UNC community will have the opportunity to hear Shuford’s unique perspectives on fulfilling the promises of equality and justice for all. 

This event is open to the public.