KU Law News
May 12, 2009
Professor to deliver Fletcher Fellowship Lecture at Harvard University
Stacy LeedsStacy Leeds will deliver a Fletcher Fellowship Lecture on Monday, May 18, 2009, at Harvard University on the topic of “Sovereignty and Consequences: Cherokee Legal History and Freedmen Citizenship.”
The talk is based on Leeds’ research on the history of the Cherokee freedmen, the African American slaves held by citizens of the Cherokee Nation until the 1860s, and their descendants. Leeds was one of four 2008 Fletcher Fellows who received a $50,000 stipend for work that contributes to improving racial equality in American society and furthers the broad social goals of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
Leeds is writing a book that shares a title with her Harvard lecture. She expects to complete it in the fall.
“The research has been fascinating,” said Leeds, professor of law and director of the Tribal Law and Government Center at the University of Kansas School of Law. “I have found very interesting documentation that will contribute to the fields of federal Indian law, tribal law, civil rights law and the shared history of African Americans and American Indians.”
While a justice on the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court, Leeds authored the majority opinion in Allen v. Cherokee Nation, a judicial decision that upheld the tribal citizenship rights of the “freedmen” and is considered a decision parallel to Brown v. Board. Her Fletcher research has focused on the unique role of the Cherokee nation within the United States with respect to issues of tribal citizenship rights and as a model of the larger issue of race relations and identity in the United States.
The Fletcher Fellowship program, a charitable initiative created in 2004 and named for Alphonse Fletcher Sr., commemorates the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board.
