Paul finkelman
Encyclopedia
Paul Finkelman is an American
historian
and legal scholar. He is the President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy, and Senior Fellow in the Government Law Center at Albany Law School
in Albany, NY. Finkelman lives in Slingerlands, New York.
Called an "excellent legal historian", Finkelman has served as an expert witness against Alabama Supreme Court
Chief Justice Roy Moore
in Glassroth v. Moore
(Al. 2002), the "Ten Commandments" case. He was an expert witness for the plaintiff in Popov v. Hayashi (S.F. Sup. Ct. CA, 2002), to determine who owned Barry Bonds
's 73rd home run ball. Professor Finkelman has also been part of amicus curie briefs for cases related to Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
and gay marriage in New York State.
Finkelman has published more than 20 books and hundreds of scholarly articles. His interests include slavery
, race, civil rights
, civil liberties
, the United States Constitution
, Constitutional Law, and baseball. In 2007 Finkelman was listed as one the ten most-cited legal historians in Brian Leiter
's Survey of "Most Cited Law Professors by Specialty, 2000-2007".
Finkelman has also written numerous entries for encyclopedias and reference works. He has had over eighty short book reviews in a wide variety of scholarly journals, numerous essays in newspapers (New York Times, USA Today
) and other non-scholarly publications.
Finkelman has also appeared in several historical films, including Ken Burns
's documentary on Thomas Jefferson
(for which he was invited to the Clinton White House), and a documentary about the Barry Bonds' home run ball, Up for Grabs
. He has been an analyst on numerous television and radio programs, including NPR
, PBS, CNN
, and ESPN
. He has served on numerous editorial and advisory boards. He has given over one hundred and fifty papers and lectures in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Colombia (SA).
in 1971, and his master's degree and doctorate in American History from the University of Chicago
in 1972 and 1976. At Chicago, he was a student of John Hope Franklin
and a contributor to the volume, The Facts of Reconstruction: Essays in Honor of John Hope Franklin, edited by Eric Anderson & Alfred A. Moss, Jr. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, c1991). Finkelman was a Fellow in Law and Humanities, Harvard Law School
, 1982-83.
(Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law, 1999–2006), University of Akron School of Law
(John F. Seiberling Professor, 1998–99), Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
(Baker & Hostetler Visiting Professor, 1997–98), Hamline Law School (Distinguished Visiting Professor, Spring 1997), University of Miami
(Charlton W. Tebeau Visiting Research Professor, 1996), Chicago-Kent College of Law
(Fall, 1995), Virginia Tech (1992–95), Brooklyn Law School
, (1990–92), SUNY Binghamton, (1984–1990), University of Texas (1978–84), Texas Law School (Spring, 1982), Washington University, (Andrew W. Mellon Faculty Fellow, 1977–78) and University of California, Irvine
(1976–77).
He was the recipient of Joseph L. Andrews Award from American Association of Law Libraries
in 1986, and in 1995, he was named Historian of the Year by the Virginia Social Science Association.
While at the State University of New York
in Binghamton, Finkelman edited the 18-volume Articles on American Slavery, collecting nearly 400 of the most important articles on slavery in the United States. It was published by Garland Publishing, Inc. in New York
and London
in 1989.
In April, 2007, Finkelman appeared at Harvard Law School for a retrial of the Dred Scott v. Sanford case. He was an expert witness for Sanford. Other expert witnesses included attorney Kenneth Starr
. The court was made up of federal justices; serving as Chief Justice was U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer
.
Finkelman spent a portion of the fall '08 semester at Osaka University
in Japan, where he was a visiting research scholar. and was a Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science resident at Nanzan University
in Nagoya, Japan in 2001. Finkelman is the editor of The Political Lincoln: An Encyclopedia (2009), published by CQ Press
, and is an advisor to the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and legal scholar. He is the President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy, and Senior Fellow in the Government Law Center at Albany Law School
Albany Law School
Albany Law School is an ABA accredited law school based in Albany, New York. It was founded in 1851 by Amos Dean , Amasa Parker, Ira Harris and others....
in Albany, NY. Finkelman lives in Slingerlands, New York.
Called an "excellent legal historian", Finkelman has served as an expert witness against Alabama Supreme Court
Alabama Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Alabama is the highest court in the state of Alabama. The court consists of an elected Chief Justice and eight elected Associate Justices. Each justice is elected in partisan elections for staggered six year terms. The Governor of Alabama may fill vacancies when they occur...
Chief Justice Roy Moore
Roy Moore
Roy Stewart Moore is an American jurist and Republican politician noted for his refusal, as the elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the state courthouse despite orders to do so from a federal judge...
in Glassroth v. Moore
Glassroth v. Moore
Glassroth v. Moore, CV-01-T-1268-N, 229 F. Supp. 2d 1290 , and its companion case Maddox and Howard v. Moore, CV-01-T-1269-N, concern then-Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy S...
(Al. 2002), the "Ten Commandments" case. He was an expert witness for the plaintiff in Popov v. Hayashi (S.F. Sup. Ct. CA, 2002), to determine who owned Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds
Barry Lamar Bonds is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. Bonds played from 1986 to 2007, for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. He is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds...
's 73rd home run ball. Professor Finkelman has also been part of amicus curie briefs for cases related to Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq...
and gay marriage in New York State.
Finkelman has published more than 20 books and hundreds of scholarly articles. His interests include slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
, race, civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
, civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
, the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
, Constitutional Law, and baseball. In 2007 Finkelman was listed as one the ten most-cited legal historians in Brian Leiter
Brian Leiter
Brian Leiter is an American philosopher and legal scholar who is currently John Wilson Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School, and founder and Director of Chicago's new Center for Law, Philosophy, and Human Values and the editor of the Philosophical Gourmet Report. He taught from...
's Survey of "Most Cited Law Professors by Specialty, 2000-2007".
Finkelman has also written numerous entries for encyclopedias and reference works. He has had over eighty short book reviews in a wide variety of scholarly journals, numerous essays in newspapers (New York Times, USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
) and other non-scholarly publications.
Finkelman has also appeared in several historical films, including Ken Burns
Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns is an American director and producer of documentary films, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs...
's documentary on Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (documentary)
Thomas Jefferson is a 1997 documentary directed and produced by Ken Burns. It covers the life and times of Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the United States....
(for which he was invited to the Clinton White House), and a documentary about the Barry Bonds' home run ball, Up for Grabs
Up for Grabs (2004 film)
Up for Grabs is a 2004 comedic documentary about two men who fought over custody of a baseball. It was directed and produced by Michael Wranovics, co-produced by Michael Lindenberger and Josh Keppel, co-edited by Dave Ciaccio; the executive producers were Dr...
. He has been an analyst on numerous television and radio programs, including NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
, PBS, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, and ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
. He has served on numerous editorial and advisory boards. He has given over one hundred and fifty papers and lectures in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Colombia (SA).
Education
Finkelman earned his undergraduate degree in American Studies from Syracuse UniversitySyracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
in 1971, and his master's degree and doctorate in American History from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in 1972 and 1976. At Chicago, he was a student of John Hope Franklin
John Hope Franklin
John Hope Franklin was a United States historian and past president of Phi Beta Kappa, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Southern Historical Association. Franklin is best known for his work From Slavery to Freedom, first published in 1947, and...
and a contributor to the volume, The Facts of Reconstruction: Essays in Honor of John Hope Franklin, edited by Eric Anderson & Alfred A. Moss, Jr. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, c1991). Finkelman was a Fellow in Law and Humanities, Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
, 1982-83.
Career
Finkelman has held many positions teaching law and history including at University of Tulsa College of LawUniversity of Tulsa College of Law
University of Tulsa College of Law is a private law school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Dean of the College of Law is Janet Koven Levit, a nationally recognized scholar in the field of comparative and international law. Levit was named Interim Dean on October 10, 2007, and permanently appointed as Dean...
(Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law, 1999–2006), University of Akron School of Law
University of Akron School of Law
The University of Akron School of Law is the law school at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, USA. Offering both the J.D. and LL.M. degrees, it was founded in 1921 as the Akron School of Law and merged with the University of Akron in 1959, becoming fully accredited by the American Bar...
(John F. Seiberling Professor, 1998–99), Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
The Cleveland–Marshall College of Law is the law school of Cleveland State University, located in Cleveland, Ohio. The school traces its origins to the founding of Cleveland Law School in 1897 which, in 1946, merged with the John Marshall School of Law, founded in 1916, to become Cleveland–Marshall...
(Baker & Hostetler Visiting Professor, 1997–98), Hamline Law School (Distinguished Visiting Professor, Spring 1997), University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
(Charlton W. Tebeau Visiting Research Professor, 1996), Chicago-Kent College of Law
Chicago-Kent College of Law
Chicago–Kent College of Law, the law school affiliated with Illinois Institute of Technology, is nationally recognized for the scholarship and accomplishments of its faculty and student body. It is the second oldest law school in the state of Illinois. Many of the applications of technology in the...
(Fall, 1995), Virginia Tech (1992–95), Brooklyn Law School
Brooklyn Law School
Brooklyn Law School is a law school located in Brooklyn Heights, in Downtown Brooklyn, New York.-History:Founded in 1901 by William Payson Richardson and Norman P. Heffley, Brooklyn Law School was the first law school on Long Island. Using space provided by Heffley’s business school, the law...
, (1990–92), SUNY Binghamton, (1984–1990), University of Texas (1978–84), Texas Law School (Spring, 1982), Washington University, (Andrew W. Mellon Faculty Fellow, 1977–78) and University of California, Irvine
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
(1976–77).
He was the recipient of Joseph L. Andrews Award from American Association of Law Libraries
American Association of Law Libraries
The American Association of Law Libraries "is a nonprofit educational organization with over 5,000 members nationwide. AALL's mission is to promote and enhance the value of law libraries to the legal and public communities, to foster the profession of law librarianship, and to provide leadership in...
in 1986, and in 1995, he was named Historian of the Year by the Virginia Social Science Association.
While at the State University of New York
State University of New York
The State University of New York, abbreviated SUNY , is a system of public institutions of higher education in New York, United States. It is the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States, with a total enrollment of 465,000 students, plus...
in Binghamton, Finkelman edited the 18-volume Articles on American Slavery, collecting nearly 400 of the most important articles on slavery in the United States. It was published by Garland Publishing, Inc. in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1989.
In April, 2007, Finkelman appeared at Harvard Law School for a retrial of the Dred Scott v. Sanford case. He was an expert witness for Sanford. Other expert witnesses included attorney Kenneth Starr
Kenneth Starr
Kenneth Winston "Ken" Starr is an American lawyer and educational administrator who has also been a federal judge. He is best known for his investigation of figures during the Clinton administration....
. The court was made up of federal justices; serving as Chief Justice was U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer
Stephen Breyer
Stephen Gerald Breyer is an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, and known for his pragmatic approach to constitutional law, Breyer is generally associated with the more liberal side of the Court....
.
Finkelman spent a portion of the fall '08 semester at Osaka University
Osaka University
, or , is a major national university located in Osaka, Japan. It is the sixth oldest university in Japan as the Osaka Prefectural Medical College, and formerly one of the Imperial Universities of Japan...
in Japan, where he was a visiting research scholar. and was a Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science resident at Nanzan University
Nanzan University
is a private, coeducational university located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The main campus is in the Shōwa Ward of Nagoya City, with another in Seto City and a recently established satellite campus near Nagoya's Takaoka Station on the subway Sakura-dōri Line....
in Nagoya, Japan in 2001. Finkelman is the editor of The Political Lincoln: An Encyclopedia (2009), published by CQ Press
CQ Press
CQ Press, a division of SAGE Publications, publishes books, directories, periodicals, and electronic products on American government and politics, with an expanding list in international affairs and journalism and mass communication....
, and is an advisor to the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission was the Congressionally created 14-member federal commission focused on planning and commemorating the 200th birthday of the United States' 16th president on February 12, 2009. The commission served for ten years, from 2000 to 2010...
.
Selected publications
- A Brief Narrative of the Tryal of John Peter Zenger. Edited with an introduction. Bradywine Press, 1997.
- A March of Liberty: A Constitutional History of the United States. With Melvin I. Urofsky. 2 vols. Oxford University Press, 2002.
- An Imperfect Union: Slavery, Federalism, and Comity. University of North Carolina Press, 1981.
- Baseball and the American Legal Mind. With Spencer Waller and Neil Cohen. Garland, 1995.
- Constitutional Law In Context. With Michael Kent Curtis, J. Wilson Parker and Davison M. Douglas. 2 vols. 2nd ed., Carolina Academic Press, 2006.
- Defending Slavery: Proslavery Thought in the Old South. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003.
- Documents of American Constitutional and Legal History (2 vols.) Co-edited with Melvin Urofsky. Oxford Univ. Press, 2007.
- Dred ScottDred ScottDred Scott , was an African-American slave in the United States who unsuccessfully sued for his freedom and that of his wife and their two daughters in the Dred Scott v...
v. Sandford: A Brief History With Documents. Bedford Books, 1997. - Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895: From the Colonial Period to the Age of Frederick Douglass. Editor-in-Chief. 3 vols. Oxford University Press, 2006.
- Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. Co-edited with Cary Wintz. 2 vols. Routledge, 2005
- Impeachable Offenses: A Documentary History from 1787 to the Present. Co-authored with Emily Van Tassel. Congressional Quarterly Press, 1998.
- Religion and American Law: An Encyclopedia. Editor. Garland, 2000.
- Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson. 2nd ed. M.E. Sharpe, 2001.
- Slavery in the Courtroom. Library of Congress, 1985. Recipient of the 1986 Joseph L. Andrews Award from the American Association of Law Libraries.
- Terrible Swift Sword: The Legacy of John Brown. Co-edited with Peggy A. Russo. Ohio University Press, 2005.
- "Toward a Usable Past: Liberty Under State Constitutions." Co-editor with Stephen Gottlieb. University of Georgia Press, 1991.