Epigenetic Changes and Health Disparities: An Evaluation Plan for Mamatoto Village Programming

In the United States, Black birthing parents experience high infant and maternal mortality rates. Infants born to Black birthing parents are more likely to be born preterm or at a low birthweight and have poorer health outcomes when compared to their counterparts. Organizations like Mamatoto Village and its programs and services work to address and prevent epigenetic changes which are a significant contributor to the maternal and child health disparities common among Black birthing parents. The evaluation plan provides guidance for the monitoring and evaluation of the Mamatoto Village programs. The plan includes recommendations for collecting data utilizing mixed methods non-experimental concurrent triangulation design, pre- and post-test, and qualitative interviews. If implemented, the results of the evaluation could highlight the impact of Mamatoto Village on maternal and child health outcomes in the District of Columbia’s Prince George’s County and influence the expansion of programming for birthing parents across the United States

No Call to Glory: Thurgood Marshall\u27s Thesis On the Intent of a Pro-Slavery Constitution

Thurgood Marshall sits as an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court, the only black person ever to do so. Before taking that office he served as the Solicitor General of the United States and as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In these offices he has been called upon to bring his powers of judgment to bear on a multitude of matters concerning this Nation\u27s Constitution. His views on the Constitution, therefore, cannot be easily dismissed. The 200th anniversary of the Constitution was not only a time of celebration, but also a time of widespread political debate over the meaning of the Constitution\u27s text and whether it should be construed in keeping with the original intent of the Framers. Justice Marshall chose this time to sound a discordant note to the self congratulatory theme of the bicentennial celebration. In a speech before the San Francisco Patent and Trademark Law Association, Justice Marshall presented a simple theme: That the Constitution as originally written was profoundly racist. That the Constitution is a racist document is a powerful statement and one demanding close scrutiny, especially since the Constitution does not explicitly mention slavery and race and deals squarely with the issue of slavery in only three places. Article I, section 2, clause 3 apportioned direct or capitation taxes and membership in the House of Representatives in accordance with population, but counted a slave as only three-fifths of a person. Article I, section 9, clause 1 forbade Congress to limit the importation of slaves until 1808, a period of twenty years. Article IV, section 2, clause 3 provided that fugitive slaves who escaped into another state would be returned to their owners.\u27 Historians universally concede that this treatment of slavery was the result of compromise between pro- slavery and antislavery forces at the Constitutional Convention, represented largely by Southern and Northern States respectively. Without this compromise, the new Constitution and the union of states that it represented might not have been possible.This Article is intended to examine Justice Marshall\u27s position that, because of the manner in which the Constitution dealt with the matter of race and slavery, the Constitution was defective from the start. Part II of this Article contrasts Justice Marshall\u27s position on the framing of the Constitution with the positions of his critics. Part III argues that Justice Marshall\u27s position is defensible even on broader grounds than he articulated, for to a significant extent the role that slavery played in the compromise that produced the Constitution cemented political control of the federal government in the hands of the slave states. Part IV suggests some implications of the constitutional compromise on slavery for the study of the Constitution and American law

No Call to Glory: Thurgood Marshall\u27s Thesis on the Intent of a Pro-Slavery Constitution

Thurgood Marshall sits as an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court, the only black person ever to do so. Before taking that office he served as the Solicitor General of the United States and as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In these offices he has been called upon to bring his powers of judgment to bear on a multitude of matters concerning this Nation\u27s Constitution. His views on the Constitution, therefore, cannot be easily dismissed. The 200th anniversary of the Constitution was not only a time of celebration, but also a time of widespread political debate over the meaning of the Constitution\u27s text and whether it should be construed in keeping with the original intent of the Framers. Justice Marshall chose this time to sound a discordant note to the self congratulatory theme of the bicentennial celebration. In a speech before the San Francisco Patent and Trademark Law Association, Justice Marshall presented a simple theme: That the Constitution as originally written was profoundly racist. That the Constitution is a racist document is a powerful statement and one demanding close scrutiny, especially since the Constitution does not explicitly mention slavery and race and deals squarely with the issue of slavery in only three places. Article I, section 2, clause 3 apportioned direct or capitation taxes and membership in the House of Representatives in accordance with population, but counted a slave as only three-fifths of a person. Article I, section 9, clause 1 forbade Congress to limit the importation of slaves until 1808, a period of twenty years. Article IV, section 2, clause 3 provided that fugitive slaves who escaped into another state would be returned to their owners.\u27 Historians universally concede that this treatment of slavery was the result of compromise between pro- slavery and antislavery forces at the Constitutional Convention, represented largely by Southern and Northern States respectively. Without this compromise, the new Constitution and the union of states that it represented might not have been possible.This Article is intended to examine Justice Marshall\u27s position that, because of the manner in which the Constitution dealt with the matter of race and slavery, the Constitution was defective from the start. Part II of this Article contrasts Justice Marshall\u27s position on the framing of the Constitution with the positions of his critics. Part III argues that Justice Marshall\u27s position is defensible even on broader grounds than he articulated, for to a significant extent the role that slavery played in the compromise that produced the Constitution cemented political control of the federal government in the hands of the slave states. Part IV suggests some implications of the constitutional compromise on slavery for the study of the Constitution and American law

Computational Analysis of the Stereoselective Synthesis of Substituted Pyrrolidines

In this work we use computational methods to study the aza-Cope-Mannich tandem reaction of a substituted oxazolidine to form a formyl pyrrolidine. Pyrrolidine structural motifs are found in natural products, pharmaceutical compounds, and chiral catalysts. Often only one stereoisomer of these compounds is active, while the others are inactive or toxic. Our goal is to determine reaction conditions and substrate characteristics that lead to one stereoisomer preferentially over the others. We focus on an oxazolidine starting material with an electron-withdrawing group at the nitrogen center and a bulky substituent at the alpha position. The long-term objective is to delineate the energy profile for the multi-step reaction of this starting material, to form a specific enantiomer of the pyrrolidine product. This will allow us to determine the effect of the electron-withdrawing group and the bulky substituent on the stereoselectivity of the reaction. The results will aid the experimental group of our collaborators in determining appropriate reaction conditions. Results to date indicate that the presence of the electron-withdrawing group at the nitrogen center increases the activation energy of the first step of the reaction. If this is in fact the rate-determining step, poor product stereoselectivity is expected, as stereochemistry is not established in this step