Almost Citizens: Puerto Rico, the U.S. Constitution, and Empire

Professor Erman will discuss his recently published book Almost Citizens, which tells the tragic story of how the United States denied Puerto Ricans full citizenship following annexation of the island in 1898. As America became an overseas empire, a struggle over whether Puerto Ricans were American citizens brought about a fundamental shift in constitutional jurisprudence: away from the post-Civil War regime of citizenship, rights, and statehood and toward doctrines that accommodated racist imperial governance.

Sam Erman is Professor of Law at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. His projects span widely and he will also discuss how the shift he chronicles in Almost Citizens still resonates in debates over Puerto Rico’s status today.