Seniors from New Haven public schools have come together this spring to participate in a monthly seminar series with Citizens Thinkers Writers. Throughout the sessions, students closely read and discuss important political and philosophical texts, and engage enduring questions about citizenship and what it means to live in a democratic community.
Beginning with the United States Declaration of Independence, students consider questions including, what constitutes a people? What brings a people into being? And what conditions are required to consent to be governed? Building on these themes and others, subsequent sessions introduce historical responses and challenges, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s “Declaration of Sentiments,” Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman,” Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the 4th of July?” and Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”.