Contact:
Elizabeth Blevins, Director, Office of Communications
Phyllis Noah, Communications Coordinator
Office: (740) 351-3810; FAX: (740) 351-3179; Cell: (740) 464-4854
940 Second Street – Portsmouth, Ohio 45662
E-mail: eblevins@shawnee.edu or pnoah@shawnee.edu
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Greg O’Brien, Ph.D., associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro lectured on the Constitution at Shawnee State University, Friday, Sept. 17, Constitution Day. He spoke on “The Constitutional Crisis of Indian Removal: Politics and Justifications.”

     

            In the new East Sodexo Ballroom at Shawnee State University packed with nearly 200 people, Greg O’Brien, Ph.D., associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro lectured on the Constitution on Friday, Sept. 17, Constitution Day. He spoke on “The Constitutional Crisis of Indian Removal: Politics and Justifications.”
            O’Brien received his Ph.D. in American History from the University of Kentucky in1998. In addition, his research includes ethnohistory, American Indians, American environmental history, American Revolution and early U.S. history.
            Constitution Day or Citizenship Day is an American federal observance that recognizes the ratification of the United States constitution and those who have become U.S. citizens. It is observed on September 17, the day the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in 1787.
            The law establishing the holiday was created in 2004 with the passage of an amendment by Senator Robert Byrd to the Omnibus spending bill of 2004.
Before this law was enacted, the holiday was known as “Citizenship Day.” In addition to renaming the holiday “Constitution Day and Citizenship Day,” the act mandates that all publicly funded educational institutions provide educational programming on the history of the American constitution on that day.
            In May 2005, the United States Department of Education announced the enactment of this law and that it would apply to any school receiving federal funds of any kind. This holiday is not observed by granting time off work for federal employees.