A landmark collection of reflections from Harvard scholars on America's unfinished human rights journey.
As the United States marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, Self-Evident Truths brings together leading scholars, practitioners, and public thinkers to examine one enduring question:
How well has America fulfilled its promise that all people are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights?
Through essays spanning history, democracy, technology, public health, race, immigration, climate, economic opportunity, and global leadership, this collection explores the enduring promise of America's founding ideals, the progress they have inspired, and the work still required to realize them fully.
Read Self-Evident Truths: The 250-Year Pursuit of Human Rights in the United States of America
"The Declaration of Independence was never a description of a society that had been achieved. It was a wager—a belief that a political community could be organized around standards higher than its present practice."
Contributors
Olivier Alais
Technology and Human Rights Fellow, Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights
Nayyab Ali
Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Fellow, Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights
Randall Akee
Julie Johnson Kidd Professor of Indigenous Governance and Development, Harvard Kennedy School
Desmond Ang
Associate Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kenndy School; Faculty Lead, Racial Justice Program, Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights
Arthur Applbaum
Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Values, Harvard Kennedy School
Gloria Ayee
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; Lecturer, Harvard Extension School
Lotem Bassan-Nygate
Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Matthew Baum
Marvin Kalb Professor of Global Communications, Harvard Kennedy School
Linda Bilmes
Daniel Patrick Moynihan Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Sara N. Bleich
Professor of Public Health Policy, Health Policy and Management, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
Deirdre Bloome
Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; Professor of Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Amitabh Chandra
Director, Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy; Ethel Zimmerman Wiener Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; Henry and Allison McCance Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
James Carras
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Edward Cunningham
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
James Dennison
Pierre Keller Visiting Professor
Diego Garcia Blum
Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program Director, Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights
Max Felker-Kantor
Racial Justice Fellow, Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights
Jeffrey Frankel
James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation and Growth, Harvard Kennedy School
Tyler R. Giannini
Clinical Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Monica Giannone
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Alicia G. Harley
Senior Research Fellow, Sustainability Science Program, Harvard Kennedy School
Eric Henson
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Jennifer Hochschild
Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government and Professor of African and African American Studies, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Deborah Hughes Hallet
Adjunct Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Antonio L. Ingram II
Racial Justice Fellow, Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights
Sheila Jasanoff
Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies
Alan Jenkins
Professor of Practice, Harvard Law School
Anders Jensen
Associate Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Reid Jewett Smith
Carr-Ryan Fellow, Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights
Jaime Keene
Technology and Human Rights Fellow, Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights
Kimberlyn Leary
Emma Bloomberg Lecturer in Public Policy and Management, Harvard Kennedy School; Associate Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School; Associate Professor, Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Elizabeth Linos
Emma Bloomberg Professor of Public Policy and Management, Harvard Kennedy School
Nona Mamulashvili
Technology and Human Rights Fellow, Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights
MaryRose Mazzola
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Timothy Patrick McCarthy
Lecturer on Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Faculty Chair, Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program
Rana Mitter
S. T. Lee Professor of U.S.-Asia Relations, Harvard Kennedy School
Cèlestin Monga
Adjunct Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Ishan Nath
Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Thomas Patterson
Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press, Harvard Kennedy School
Phuong Pham
Associate Professor, Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Philomena Polefrone
Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Fellow, Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights
Kimahli Powell
Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Fellow, Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights
Mathias Risse
Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights, Global Affairs and Philosophy, Harvard Kenndy School; Director, Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights
Christopher Robichaud
Senior Lecturer in Ethics and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Benjamin Schneer
Associate Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Daniel Schneider
Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Jake Sullivan
Kissinger Professor of the Practice of Statecraft and World Order, Harvard Kennedy School
Fatema Z. Sumar
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Latanya Sweeney
Daniel Paul Professor of the Practice of Government and Technology, Harvard Kennedy School and Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Charles Taylor
Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kenedy School
Patrick Vinck
Associate Professor, Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Jim Waldo
Professor of the Practice of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Computer Science, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Robert Wilkinson
Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School
Michael Woolcock
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School