Part 1 (Complete)
In Hoffa’s Shadow: Chuckie O’Brien, the Supreme Court, and a Son’s Search for the Truth
A Lecture by Professor Jack Goldsmith
Original Event Details:
Charles “Chuckie” O’Brien (December 20, 1933 – February 13, 2020)[1] was an American labor union organizer. He was closely linked to International Brotherhood of Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa and referred to himself as Hoffa’s stepson. In 1967, the Supreme Court ruled in his favor in O’Brien v. United States, vacating his conviction for “removing merchandise from a bonded area under the supervision of the United States Customs Service” and remanding the case to the lower court. That is where our story begins. What happened to Mr. O’Brien after the Supreme Court ruled in his case?
As a young man, Jack Goldsmith revered his stepfather, longtime Jimmy Hoffa associate Chuckie O’Brien. But as he grew older and pursued a career in law and government, he came to doubt and distance himself from the man long suspected by the FBI of perpetrating Hoffa’s disappearance on behalf of the mob. It was only years later, when Goldsmith was serving as assistant attorney general in the George W. Bush administration, that he began to reconsider his stepfather and to understand Hoffa’s legacy.
Professor Goldsmith wrote In Hoffa’s Shadow to share how he reunited with the stepfather he’d disowned and then set out to unravel one of the twentieth century’s most persistent mysteries and Chuckie’s role in it.

Part 2 (Complete)
Denied but Not Defeated: Myra Bradwell and the Battle for Women in Law
A Lecture by Siobhan Barco
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Original Event Information
Myra Colby Bradwell (February 12, 1831 – February 14, 1894) was a Chicago publisher and political activist. She attempted in 1869 to become the first woman to be admitted to the Illinois bar to practice law but was denied admission by the Illinois Supreme Court in 1870 because of her sex. She was denied again on appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States in Bradwell v. Illinois (1873). What happened to Ms. Bradwell after her case was decided?

Part 3 (Complete)
The Vanishing of Lloyd Gaines: A Supreme Court Victory and a Civil Rights Mystery
A Lecture by Professor Kenneth W. Mack
Lloyd Gaines (1911 – disappeared March 19, 1939) was born in Mississippi and moved to Missouri with his mother and siblings. He attended the Blacks-only Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri. He then applied to the University of Missouri Law School, which did not admit Black students. With the help of the NAACP, he was the petitioner in Gaines v. Canada. In 1938, the Supreme Court held that states that provided a school for White students had to allow Black students to attend or provide a separate school for them. Shortly after this victory though, Lloyd Gaines disappeared. He was never found. What happened to Lloyd Gaines?
