The Juniors gathered in the library last Friday to create something incredibly revolutionary: a constitutional convention where each of them played a character; however, alongside our founding fathers were talented and bright minds of that time who were not allowed in the original room. Free African Americans, Indigenous peoples, Women, and indentured servants, all of whom did not originally get a voice in how their country was constructed. They discussed two important issues of that time: the issue of slavery and voting rights. After lots of brilliant conversation and debate, the enslaved peoples gained their freedom, and everyone, regardless of race or gender, gained the right to vote in this new constitution. Some characters included Abigail Adams, Benjamin Banneker, Mercy Otis Warren, Phillis Wheatley, and so many more.
“It gave us an insight into how the real thing might have been if those people had actually been invited; it was very interesting,” Said Diella Maynard, who played Cicero Sweatt, an African American who gained his freedom by fighting in the black battalion in the American Revolution.
The exercise was informative and eye-opening, and I personally do believe that if all those bright minds had originally had a say in their constitutional rights, we would have had a very different original constitution.
Student Author: Lena Kammerzelt
