Conference: Does Human Rights Have a History?

Conference dates: Friday, April 10 – Saturday, April 11, 2015
Location: The Joseph Regenstein Library, Room 122, 1100 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL
Walk-ins are welcome.

When were “human rights” invented and what were the major stages of the evolution of their different elements? This two-day conference will bring together leading historians of human rights working across time and space to address these and other important questions. It will also honor the contributions of Michael Geyer, Samuel N. Harper Professor of German and European History and the College and a founder of the Human Rights Program at the University of Chicago, to the field of human rights history and to the development of interdisciplinary studies of human rights thought and practice at the University of Chicago.  See the Pozen Family Center for Human Rights web page for more information.  

An exhibit “Germany & Beyond: Human Rights and History” will be on view at the conference.  It presents a selection of Michael Geyer’s contributions to the development of the interdisciplinary field of human rights studies over the course of his career.

The University of Chicago Library is a co-sponsor of this event.