The following year, the Court’s decision in the case of Mima Queen and Child v. Hepburn denied Black people the right to provide hearsay evidence that supported their freedom claims, prioritizing the propertied interests of enslavers over the lives of people those enslavers claimed belonged to them.20 The Court’s vigorous defense of human bondage, encased in property law, continued as amendments were added to the Constitution. The Fifth Amendment, which prohibited Congress from depriving anyone of “life, liberty, or property, without due process,” informed the Supreme Court’s decision to
...more
