Rights & Wrongs: A Constitution Day Conference

Wednesday, Sept. 16

Revolution(s) in Global Context

A roundtable of professors will respond to the Sutro Library’s exhibit of rare materials related to the American, French and Haitian revolutions and Latin American independence. 

Time: 9:30 – 11 a.m.
Location: Special Collections & Archives, LIB 460

Museums and the Fullness of History

A keynote presentation by Lori Fogarty, director of the Oakland Museum, followed by a conversation with Museum Studies professor Lissette Jiménez and an audience Q&A.

Time: 4 – 6 p.m.
Location: Library Events Room, LIB 121

Thursday, Sept. 17

Building a Community Archive: The 1968 SFSU BSU/TWLF Student Strike College of Ethnic Studies Oral History Collective

Dr. Tiffany Caesar, Africana Studies professor; Hal Saga, M.A. student in Ethnic Studies; and Sydney Jackson Sihombing, B.A. in History, will present a roundtable about digital technologies and historical storytelling. Sutro Library will feature selections from their 2016 Women’s March poster collection.

Time: 11 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Location: Special Collections & Archives, LIB 460

Queering the Bicentennial: Patriots, Protesters, Pornographers, and Profiteers in the 1970s

Marc Stein, the Jamie and Phyllis Pasker Professor of History and current president of the Organization of American Historians (OAH), will discuss his new book, Bicentennial: A Revolutionary History of the 1970s. Sutro Library will feature selections from their 2016 Women’s March poster collection.

Time: 12:30 – 1:45 p.m.
Location: Special Collections & Archives, LIB 460

Gallery Exhibit

On Strike! Shut It Down! SF State Strikes of 1968–69

Explore a student-curated and student-designed exhibition on the historic student-led strikes of the 1960s, featuring archival video footage, photos, artwork, and documents.

Time: Ongoing
Location: Special Collections Gallery, LIB 462

About the conference

San Francisco State University has a proud tradition of organizing conferences for Constitution and Citizenship Day, a national holiday that commemorates the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787. The conference provides multiple opportunities to reflect critically on the past, present, and future of constitutional rights, freedoms, citizenship, democracy, equality, and justice.

Presented in 2026 by the History Department in collaboration with J. Paul Leonard Library and Sutro Library. Sponsored by the College of Liberal & Creative Arts, the History Department, the History Students Association, and the Jamie and Phyllis Pasker Chair in U.S. History.

Accessibility

The Rights & Wrongs conference welcomes persons with disabilities and will provide reasonable accommodations upon request. SFSU students, faculty and staff with disabilities who need reasonable accommodations are encouraged to contact the Disability Programs and Resource Center (DPRC), which is available to facilitate the reasonable accommodations process. The DPRC is located in the Student Services Building and can be reached by telephone (voice/415-338-2472, video phone/415-335-7210) or by email (dprc@sfsu.edu). Others who need reasonable accommodations for this event can contact Sarah Crabtree at slc123@sfsu.edu as soon as possible so the request can be reviewed.