A Shout Out from The Faculty Lounge

Yesterday, on The Faculty Lounge blog, Bridget Crawford wrote that “Hip Hop and the Law” would be a great course. She was inspired by a Washington Post story concerning Dr. Michael Eric Dyson’s Georgetown University undergraduate course on “Sociology of Hip Hop – Urban Theodicy of Jay-Z.” As another source of inspiration, she pointed to our blog, HipHopLaw.com. We want to thank Bridget for the shout out and return the favor. I, for one, am a fan of The Faculty Lounge. It is a useful source of intellectual conversation and thoughtful information, especially about the legal academy.

Let me also offer another example of teaching at the intersection of hip hop and the law: Professor Donald Tibbs of The Earl Mack School of Law of Drexel University received a grant this past spring to start a course on Hip Hop and the American Constitution. His distinguished group of guest lecturers includes Paul Butler, Imani Perry and HipHopLaw.com bloggers Pamela D. Bridgewater, andré douglas pond cummings, and Akilah Folami. The lectures will culminate in a book to be edited by Tibbs and cummings.

We look forward to hearing more about this project as it progresses.

--Atiba Ellis

New Blog Projects on Teaching Law

I know that many of us who read this blog are also concerned about teaching, particularly teaching law. My colleague, Jena Martin Amerson and I have started two new blogs: (1) Teaching Law in the 21st Century and (2) Thoughts about Citizens United.

Thoughts on Citizens United is designed to provide an opportunity for students who read and analyze issues ranging from corporations, election law, constitutional law and other related disciplines to comment and construct their own knowledge of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Professors in relevant areas are welcome to direct themselves and their students to the Thoughts on Citizens United page. Teaching Law in the 21st Century is designed to be a forum for professors from law and higher education generally to discuss how to reach the Internet generation. I hope that the audience of this blog would find this of interest given the fact that the so-called "post-hip hop" generation is also the Internet generation (a generation which, as I alluded to in an earlier post, uses the Internet for self and political expression). Together, these blogs represent an opportunity to think about and apply practices designed to reach the Millenials.

We hope you will join the discussions at Teaching Law in the 21st Century and Thoughts on Citizens United.