Honors College 2025 Day 5: Exploring the Past with an Eye Toward the Future
Honors College 2025 Day 5: Exploring the Past with an Eye Toward the Future
This is the fifth and final story in a series of blog posts written by the Fisher Family Honors Program class of 2026 detailing their experiences in Washington, D.C., for CDDRL's annual Honors College.
Our final day in Washington, D.C. brought the trip full circle. We started with an exploration of the historical evolution of democracy, development, and the rule of law in America, and ended with an exploration of the challenges and opportunities for these principles in present-day lawmaking.
We started the day at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. We were fortunate to receive a private tour from Sarah Gordon, Museum Specialist, Visual Art, who led us through exhibits spanning hundreds of years of African American history. The exhibits captured the deeply personal and human side of what can often be portrayed as an abstract pursuit of justice along “the arc of the moral universe.” From the special relationship between Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, which led to the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation of 1862, to the precious bond between Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, whose decision to hold an open-casket funeral for her 14-year-old son in 1955 would help spark the modern Civil Rights Movement, inspiring figures such as Rosa Parks. The exhibit featured a moving and numinous space with Emmett Till’s original glass-topped casket.
In the afternoon, our group walked along the National Mall to Capitol Hill. At the Longworth House Office Building, we met with Congressman Sam Liccardo, who represents California’s 16th Congressional District, which includes our very own Stanford University. Congressman Liccardo shared his experience as a freshman member of the House of Representatives, how the nuanced distinction between the trustee and delegate models of representation has explicitly affected his own judgments, and how he seeks to have an impact as a member of the Democratic Party in a time when the Republican Party controls the White House and both chambers of Congress. It was a rare opportunity for us to ask candid questions of someone with firsthand experience of the present state of democracy and law-making, and it was therefore an excellent way to conclude our Honors College on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law.
