Peter J. Hammer Archives - JURIST - Commentary

Commentaries by Peter J. Hammer

Call Me Caitlyn: Expanding the Circle of Human Concern

August 1, 2015 01:13:59 pm

JURIST Guest Columnist Peter Hammer, of Wayne State University Law School, discusses the controversy surrounding Caitlyn Jenner and rights for transgender individuals...Please call me by my true names, so I can wake up, and so the door of my heart...

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Reign of Terror begins in French Revolution

On April 6, 1793, the Committee of Public Safety took power as the executive agency of France during the French Revolution, starting the Reign of Terror. During this period, the Committee sought to eliminate "enemies of the Revolution" by summary trials of noblemen, clergy, merchants, and peasants alike. The Reign of Terror ended with the overthrow the Committee's last and most prominent member, Maximilien Robespierre. By this time, 20,000 to 40,000 Frenchmen and women had been executed by guillotine. Learn more about the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.

'Scottsboro boys' put on trial for alleged rape of white women

On April 6, 1931, the nine "Scottsboro boys" were put on trial in Alabama on false charges of raping two white women during a freight train trip from Tennessee. Learn more about the trial of the Scottsboro boys.