When an art museum becomes a law school classroom

Law students — led by their professor, Marissa Jackson Sow — headed to a local museum in March.

At the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the class walked through the exhibit “Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys,” where they examined artwork from 36 Black artists and discussed how the selection related to their course material.

“This visit represents part of the fieldwork requirement I’ve instituted in my upper-level course offerings,” Sow said, referencing her Race and the Constitution and State Power classes. “We consider[ed] how governments — and particularly courts — negotiate citizenship and other forms of legal personhood and the impact of these negotiations on the democratic project.

“The trip was a fantastic opportunity for the students to celebrate Black History Month, to allow art to make our heavy [course] readings and discussions on jurisprudence and philosophy come alive — and to engage the city of Richmond as a living laboratory.”