Enslavement robbed African Americans of dignities like birth certificates that outlived slavery.

Evidence

I thought of my mom and many other family members who lived most of their lives without a birth certificate—and all the more appreciated the importance of this lawsuit, as I was beginning to understand that it stood for so much more than these artifacts. It was evidence of all the ways in which enslavement robbed African Americans—of their dignity, their humanity. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 1033

Categorization

• SEED: Essay angle: the birth certificate as the mundane technology of personhood — what it means to be denied one across generations.