OCTC Celebrates Constitution Day Examining Current Events

On Thursday, September 17, 2015, Owensboro Community amp; Technical College (OCTC) will celebrate Constitution Day with a presentation titled Civil Rights, Immigration Policy, and Gay Marriage: The Significance of the Fourteenth Amendment. The presentation will be by OCTC Assistant Professor of History, Angela Ash. A native of Florida, Ash is a graduate of OCTC. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brescia University and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Louisville. She has been teaching at OCTC full-time since 2011.

OCTC President Dr. Scott Williams commented, As Americans and as students it is important that we examine our past in order to become more civically engaged citizens in the future.

The event is free and open to faculty, staff, students and the general public and is hosted by OCTCs Hager Civic Engagement Scholars Program. The presentation will take place at 2:00 p.m. in the Chandler Conference Center, located in the Advanced Technology Center of OCTCs Main Campus at 4800 New Hartford Road.

On Constitution Day, we recognize the anniversary of the nations constitution and the efforts and responsibilities of all citizens. In the summer of 1787, delegates convened in Philadelphia to create a more perfect union and to craft the country's constitution. They worked to develop a framework that would provide balance and freedom, taking into account national and state interests, as well as individual human rights. The delegates signed the Constitution of the United States on September 17, 1787. By June 21, 1788, the Constitution was ratified, having been approved by nine of the 13 states.

Efforts to recognize citizens and the Constitution began in 1939, when newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst advocated a day to celebrate US Citizenship. In 1940 Congress created I Am an American Day to be celebrated on the third Sunday in May. On February 29, 1952, President Harry Truman signed into law Citizenship Day. It was established to replace I Am an American Day. On August 2, 1956, Congress requested that the President proclaim the week beginning September 17 and ending September 23 of each year as Constitution Week. One additional change was made to the event when a federal law enacted in December 2004 designated September 17 as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day.