The discussion, “Barnette at 80 & What It Means Today,” with Professor John Q. Barrett will take place at 5:00 p.m., Wednesday June 7 at the center.

June 14, 2023 marks the 80 anniversary since the West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette decision. In that case, the Supreme Court decided, and Justice Robert H. Jackson wrote the Court’s opinion explaining, that it is unconstitutional for government to compel schoolchildren to salute and to pledge allegiance to the American flag.

Barrett, a professor of law at St. John’s University and Elizabeth S. Lenna Fellow and a board member at the Robert H. Jackson Center, will guide the discussion and offer insights on Barnette as a historical matter and how it affects thinking today about collisions between laws and rules that apply to all and individuals who wish to differ.

The program is free and open to the public.

The Honorable Benes Z. Aldana, President of The National Judicial College, will be the keynote speaker. He will explore the public’s trust and confidence in the country’s courts, what affects that trust, and what can be done to address challenges.

The program takes place tonight from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public. A live stream of the event will also be available to those unable to attend in person.

Jackson day is an annual celebration of the life of U.S. Chief Justice Robert H. Jackson, which is held on the third Wednesday of February around his birthday.

The event can be attended in-person at the Courthouse located at 204 Fourth Avenue in Warren, PA.

For those who want to attend the webinar, register at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/9016748505542/WN_Whu598H1QIavlJKK9zdV4w?blm_aid=127484929 

For more information, visit roberthjackson.org

Dennis Drew, Jeff Erickson and Steven Gustafson in front of the new sign honoring 10,000 Maniacs at the Jamestown city entrance (Image courtesy of 10,000 Maniacs).

JAMESTOWN, NY – Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist unveiled a new  sign at the city’s North Main St. entrance Monday morning, honoring 10,000 Maniacs.

Maniacs’ members and Jamestown natives Dennis Drew, Jeff Erickson and Steven Gustafson were on hand for the occasion, along with several other city and state officials.

Both Drew and Gustafson were founding members of the band when it first formed in Jamestown in 1981. Others in the original group included Rob Buck, John Lombardo, and Natalie Merchant – along with a rotating cast of drummers – including Tim Edborg, Bob “Bob-o-Matic” Watcher, and Jim Foti – on drums (Jerry Augustyniak would eventually become the Maniacs’ main percussionist in 1983 and has remained with the band ever since).

During the past 40 years, 10,000 Maniacs has released nine studio albums, six EPs, and five live albums – selling millions of records and performing thousands of shows around the world. While the band has seen some members come and go (including Merchant, who left the band in 1994 and Buck, who passed away in December 2000) it has continued to perform and entertain audiences over the year, including putting on a sellout show at Reg Lenna Center for the Arts earlier this year. Current band members include Augustyniak, Drew, Erickson, Gustafson and Lombardo, along with Mary Ramsey on lead vocals.

Ten Thousand Maniacs joins Lucille Ball, Roger Tory Peterson and Robert H. Jackson as prominent natives of the Pearl City. The signs note that Jamestown is “The Birthplace of” both Ball and Peterson and “Home of” both Jackson and 10,000 Maniacs.

Others on hand for the unveiling included Assemblyman Andy Goodell (who actually served as an attorney for 10,000 Maniacs in the band’s early years) along with State Senator George Borrello.

JAMESTOWN – The Robert H. Jackson Center has released a statement in regards to the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis Police officer on May 25. The death sparked a series of national protests and demonstrations, some of which escalated into riots, with violence and looting taking place in several major cities around the country.

The Jackson Center is a nonprofit organization that envisions a global society where the universal principles of equality, fairness and justice prevail. The Center invites and engages students of all ages, scholars, educators, national officials and international dignitaries to analyze contemporary issues of peace and justice through the lens of Supreme Court Justice and Nuremberg War Crimes prosecutor Robert H. Jackson’s body of work.

Here is the statement, in full:

The Robert H. Jackson Center envisions a global society where the universal principles of equality, fairness and justice prevail. Those principles have been tested significantly for decades, coming to a head…again…in these last weeks. We are angered by and mourn for the most recent in a long line of those for whom equality, fairness and justice have not only not prevailed, but have utterly failed. We say their names – Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd – because names have power.

To quote Justice Jackson, “I cannot deny that racial ill-will and intolerance exist in America, but I do deny that they are American.” Those who are protesting have been mired in systems that have repeatedly failed them – failed to recognize the inequalities, failed to acknowledge the impact, and failed to correct the underlying conditions.

A society grounded in the rule of law is also a society where the systems that support it must be fair and just. The discontented have the right, in truth have the duty, to openly voice their dissent, and the contented have the obligation to listen and respond, by word and just action, to that dissent. Violence is not the answer; ‘this concept of liberty has no tolerance of any form of lawlessness,’ because ‘an attack on any member is an attack on the peace of all.’

Black lives matter. Black experiences matter. We have more work to do. On the front of the United States Supreme Court building, four words are inscribed: EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW. That is the ideal – one that each and every one of us should be able to support and for which we should never – we can never – stop fighting.

At the Jackson Center, we are committed to elevating and amplifying the voices that fight for the marginalized, speak truth to power, lead by example, and work to correct abuses of power, internationally and domestically. We advance the legacy of Robert H. Jackson through our dedication to inspire, educate and encourage public discussions regarding justice and law. This year, our programming explores “The Other – Through Your Eyes” to open a window into another person’s experiences to foster understanding, even where agreement is not possible. We always will be a home for these conversations, but we know we can do more. Join the conversation. Hold us accountable. Do more with us.

Local attorney and Jackson Center board member Gregory Peterson (left) talks with Dr. Allida Black, nationally recognized Eleanor Roosevelt scholar and also a self-described Harry Potter freak.

JAMESTOWN – A nationally recognized historian considered the foremost scholar on the political and social work of Eleanor Roosevelt is in Jamestown Thursday and Friday to participate in an event involving the Robert H. Jackson Center and several area school districts.

Dr. Allida Black is scheduled to appear at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts Friday for the Jackson Center’s 15th annual Young Readers Program, which uses literature to engage young people with their world by inspiring them to read and hone their analytical skills and writing ability.

Black, who describers hereself as a “Harry Potter Freak,” is in town to share with students the relationship between the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was ushered forward by Eleanor Roosevelt, the work of groups such as Amnesty International, and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

Prior to her appearance on Friday, Black also appeared at the Jackson Center Thursday night as part of the awards ceremony for local students who won this year’s essay contest. She took some time out to talk with WRFA and explained why it’s important for her to participate in the Young Readers program.

“I love the Robert H. Jackson Center. It’s one of my favorite places in the country. And I’m a Harry Potter freak,” Black explained. “Very few people really understand the connection between Harry Potter and human rights. So I am here to honor Justice Jackson, J. K. Rowling, and Eleanor Roosevelt by talking about human rights and all of its iterations. Whether it’s in the glorious, magical word of Harry Potter or in the complex magic of human struggle.”

Black added that while some people may not realize it, the Harry Potter series is intended to focus on and teach the issue of Human rights for all.

“I think if you understand what human rights are, then [Harry Potter] is essential. It’s a story of kids finding their voice, of kids learning to manage joy, of kids wanting to combat fear to stand up and create a world where evil, torture, bigotry, hunger, homelessness and war don’t exist. I mean, Doubledore’s army is an army for human rights,” Black said.

Dr. Allida Black

During Thursday night’s event at the Jackson Center, Black also sat down for an interview with local attorney and Jackson Center board member Greg Peterson to discuss Eleanor Roosevelt and the ongoing effort to raise awareness of the need for human rights for all people, regardless of who they are or where they are from.

Black also spent time explaining the connection between Justice Robert Jackson, who was the chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials following World War II and Eleanor Roosevelt, who used her status as the country’s former first lady to elevate the Human Rights issue to the international stage following the war. That included her effort to establish the first ever world-wide recognized Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was accepted by the United Nations in December 1948.

Black said that Roosevelt saw the human rights issue as something that needs to continue moving forward in order to help prevent the atrocities of World War II from being repeated.

WRFA also asked Black how Mrs. Roosevelt would respond to the current political climate in both the U.S. and around the globe, and whether or not there is some backsliding taking place regarding the human rights effort.

“Democracy’s history is really like a rubber band. Democracy expands and it contrasts and expands and contrasts. But it only expands when people have the courage to act. Right now a lot of us talk but we don’t act. So what I hope we see is that people have the courage of their convictions, the courage to question, and the courage to reach out to people whom they may disagree with, but to figure out how to keep the conversation going,” Black said, adding, “Eleanor would say two things. She would say compromise is good as long as you compromise up. Another thing she would say is, ‘Staying aloof is not a solution. It is a cowardly evasion.'”

Dr. Allida Black is the Managing Director of the Allenswood Group, LLC, a collaborative founded to empower individuals and strengthen democracy through civic engagement, grassroots activism and education. Her career spans public service and the academy. She helped found the Voter Empowerment Project, trained aspiring women candidates across the nation and developed a mentoring program for the State Department and the UN High Commission for Human Rights. She has also managed the Women’s Political Participation Team for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. A Research Professor of History at The George Washington University and Editor Emeritus/Advisory Board Chair of The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Dr. Black has written/edited ten books and several articles on women, politics, and human rights, and created the highly acclaimed fdr4freedoms Digital Initiative, a web-based education program dedicated to the Four Freedoms. Allida Black has a Ph. D from George Washington University.

The Robert H. Jackson Center (image from www.jamestownupclose.com)

JAMESTOWN – The Robert H. Jackson Center is hosting a two-day event starting Tuesday to commemorate an historic Supreme Court decision.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette Supreme Court case. Justice Robert H. Jackson wrote the Court’s majority decision which clarified First Amendment Free Speech protection for those with religious convictions conflicting with the routine public school practice of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Among others, the Jackson Center has scheduled Professor Robert L. Tsai of American University’s Washington College of Law, Philip Brumley, General Counsel for the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Marie Barnett Snodgrass, one of the named petitioners in the Barnette case, to contribute to this compelling presentation.

The program will begin on Tuesday with an open house at the Jackson Center from 4 to 6:45pm, which includes a docent-led historical exhibition of various visual and interactive presentations of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ struggle for religious freedom leading up to the Barnette decision.

A formal program will begin in the Center’s Cappa Theatre at 6:45 p.m. It will include a 15-minute stage play, The Faithful Do Not Yield, which was originally presented for National History Day at the 2017 National Contest. After the performance, Professor Tsai will deliver his lecture, “What Might Have Been.”

On Wednesday The Faithful Do Not Yield will be performed again in the Cappa Theatre at 9:30 a.m. Two illustrated presentations will follow the performance, tracing the events surrounding the two major U.S. Supreme Court cases, Minersville School District v. Gobitis and Barnette.

The Center is honored to invite Thomas A. Loftus, III, the grandson of Justice Jackson and former Jackson Center board member, to read passages from the Barnette decision. A roundtable conversation with Marie Barnett Snodgrass and Louise Gobitis Blanton will follow. At 11:15 a.m. Wednesday the Center will welcome keynote speaker Philip Brumley to deliver his lecture, “Jehovah’s Witnesses: Canaries in the Coal Mine of Human Rights.”

Please call the Jackson Center at (716)483-6646 or check its website, www.RobertHJackson.org, for more details.

• MOBILE APP USERS: LISTEN HERE

Originally airing Thursday, April 5, 2018.

WRFA’s Jason Sample talks with James Colby (GreenUp Jamestown) and Marion Beckerink (Robert H. Jackson Center) about GreenUp Jamestown 2018, including the upcoming panel discussion: “Valuing Water: A New Deal for the Environment,” scheduled for Wednesday, April 18, 2018 at 6:00 p.m. at the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown.

This program ,which is free and open to the public, is part of a GreenUp Jamestown series which seeks to “collaborate and cooperate with regional organizations that support conservation and sustainability.”

In keeping with its mission, the Jackson Center will examine and share Justice Jackson’s lifelong bond with the environmental beauty of the region of the country. Growing up in Spring Creek, Pennsylvania and Western New York, Jackson appreciated from an early age the community’s responsibility to preserve the natural wonders that allowed him to fish, swim, sail, and camp in the area throughout his life.

A 6:00 p.m. reception will be followed by the formal program at 7:00 p.m. Moderator Julia Craighill is a Jackson Center board member and an environmental architect. Craighill will reflect on the involvement of her grandfather, Robert H. Jackson, as the attorney in a local environmental case in 1923 which eventually led to Jamestown’s decision to develop and execute a sewage treatment plan. She owns Ensight Consulting, which helps rejuvenate buildings and businesses with green programs and certifications.

The program will proceed with presentations by Dr. Michael Shelly of the University at Buffalo’s RENEW Institute, UB School of Law Professor Kim Diana Connolly, and Save The River Executive Director and Upper St. Lawrence Riverkeeper Lee Willbanks. Shelly is an environmental economist with over 25 years of experience. He will discuss how economists actually determine the value of water based on use, production, waste, and recreational use, among other considerations. Dr. Shelly values the environmental benefits associated with both natural and engineered systems, and has also valued the health impacts of pollution. He has analyzed a wide variety of projects on five continents. The RENEW Institute is a university-wide, interdisciplinary research institute that focuses on complex environmental issues, as well as the social and economic issues with which they are connected.

Professor Connolly will address the history of the Clean Water Act, issues related to environmental case law, and how policy is shaped by those decisions. She is the University at Buffalo School of Law’s Director of Clinical Legal Education, Director of the Advocacy Institute and Vice Dean for Advocacy and Experiential Education. Connolly also studies, writes, and speaks about environmental and animal law policies, creatively examining and sharing ideas as to how to move toward a sustainable future.

Lee Willbanks will discuss his work as a fresh water advocate and the value of water to First Nations people, among others. He has a law degree from Syracuse University College of Law and a Master of Public Administration from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Mr. Willbanks’s diverse career has spanned from being environmental counsel for an independent power producer to serving as chief of staff to a New York State senator. Save The River is a not-for-profit, member-based environmental organization with the mission to preserve, protect and restore the St. Lawrence River, one of North America’s most important rivers. The program will conclude with an opportunity for questions and answers.
This program is made possible by Jackson Center annual fund donors and the following funds held at Chautauqua Region Community Foundation: Robert S. & Je’ Anne Barger Fund and William E. & Nancy R. Jackson Fund.

The Robert H. Jackson Center (image from www.jamestownupclose.com)

WASHINGTON – The last of Robert H. Jackson’s law clerks has passed away at the age of 91.

The Post-Journal says that E. Barrett Prettyman Jr. died at a hospital in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 4, due to a respiratory ailment. Prettyman was the law clerk for three Supreme Court Justices, serving for Justice Jackson in 1953-54.

Prettyman served on the Robert H. Jackson Center board prior to becoming ill and was one of the key reasons the Jackson Center – based in Jamestown – was able to make connections with the District of Columbia Bar Association and the Supreme Court Historical Society, which led to several joint programs between the center and the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Robert H. Jackson center in Jamestown is dedicated to preserving the work and writing of Justice Robert H. Jackson, who graduated from Frewsburg and practiced law in Jamestown prior to advancing his career to eventually become a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court and the chief prosecutor of the Nuremberg War Crimes trials.

The Robert H. Jackson Center (image from www.jamestownupclose.com)

JAMESTOWN – To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunals, the Bar Association of Erie County’s Human Rights Committee, through major sponsorship from Phillips Lytle, LLP and additional sponsorship from Barclay Damon, LLP, will present a dramatic reenactment of the Nuremberg War Tribunals utilizing “The Tricycle Collected Plays: Nuremberg” as edited by Richard Norton-Taylor.

Trial participants will be portrayed by attorneys from the Bar Association.

The performance will take place at the Robert H. Jackson Center, located at 305 East 4th Street in Jamestown, on Sunday, November 6 at 2:00 p.m.

The Jackson Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the life and legacy of Robert H. Jackson, who served as chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials.

The performance is free of charge and open to the public.

JAMESTOWN – A major production focusing on one of the most significant legal milestones of the 20^th century will be coming to Jamestown this weekend.

The national theater tour of “Judgment at Nuremberg” will be presented Sunday, Oct. 30 at 2 p.m. at Reg Lenna Center for The Arts.

The live – in performance radio drama is presented by L.A. Theatre Works in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the original trials, which featured area native – Justice Robert H. Jackson – as chief prosecutor.

The play will be performed in full costume with video productions, period furniture, music and live sound effects.

Originally a riveting teleplay, Judgment at Nuremberg became an Academy Award winning film and a stage play by Abby Mann that is both surprising and unsettling. In this absorbing and complex drama, a cast of unforgettable characters play out their high stakes game against the backdrop of a looming Cold War, shifting political alliances, and the shocking and vivid memories of the Holocaust and World War II.

Professional actors from stage and screen will perform the play, including: Josh Clark – currently on HBO’s Westworld, John Vickery (Broadway’s The Lion King, Modern Family), Matthew Floyd Miller (Criminal Minds, Law & Order), Kip Gilman (CSI: Miami, Bones). Ron Bottitta (Lost, Transformers) and Shannon Holt (Seinfeld, ER). Also performing are Dylan Jones and Jeff Gardner.

Tickets are on sale at Reg Lenna Center for The Arts box office. Sales are also available by calling 716.484.7070 or visiting reglenna.com.