Join the Lincoln Presidential Foundation for a discussion with author and historian Dr. Kate Masur on her latest book Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction (W. W. Norton, 2021). With meticulous research, Masur lays out the history of Black Americans’ struggle to be recognized as citizens—a struggle that started before the ink on the Constitution was dry. Her book demonstrates that the fight for equality and justice is as old as the republic itself.

Kate Masur is a Professor of History and Board of Visitors Professor at Northwestern University, where she specializes in the history of race, politics, and law in the nineteenth-century United States. In addition to her latest book, Masur has authored numerous other books and articles including An Example for All the Land: Emancipation and the Struggle over Equality in Washington, D.C. (UNC Press, 2010), and, with Gregory Downs, The World the Civil War Made (UNC Press, 2015).

Masur has consulted extensively with museums and arts organizations including the National Constitution Center and the Newberry Library and regularly works with K-12 teachers and speaks with the media on topics including the Civil War and Reconstruction, Lincoln, and monuments and public memory.