Shapiro Lecture: Democracy and the Declaration Across 250 Years

Harvard scholar Danielle Allen will explore how the Declaration’s promise of political equality informs her teaching, advocacy, democracy and civics education work. Following her lecture, Allen will join Susan Juster, W.M. Keck Foundation Director of Research, to discuss the historical significance and continued relevance of this founding document today. 

This special program is part of THIS LAND IS …, The Huntington’s sweeping multiyear initiative that marks the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding and reflects on the American story through the lens of land. 

Limited quantities of pre-signed copies of Allen’s books Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality (2014) and Radical Duke: How One Aristocrat―and the American Revolution―Transformed Britain (June 2026) will be available for purchase in Rothenberg Hall 30 minutes before the start of the program (6-6:30 p.m.) and 30 minutes after the program ends (7:30-8 p.m.). Unsigned copies of select titles are also available through the Huntington Store: 

Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality 
Radical Duke: How One Aristocrat―and the American Revolution―Transformed Britain

About The Shapiro Center

The Shapiro Center at The Huntington was created to advance scholarship, knowledge, and understanding of American history and culture—especially of the early republic and of the nation’s founders and leaders. Established in 2019, thanks to the vision and generosity of L. Dennis and Susan R. Shapiro, the Shapiro Center engages both scholarly and general audiences. Its Los Angeles home offers a special opportunity to explore West Coast and global perspectives on the development of America and the genesis and evolution of national institutions.

About THIS LAND IS …

THIS LAND IS … is a sweeping multiyear initiative that invites visitors to reflect on the American story through the lens of land. Anchored by the tagline “Reflections for America at 250,” the initiative draws on The Huntington’s library, art, and botanical collections to spotlight relationships between land, United States history, and American identities. Discover a season of exhibitions, experiences, and conversations across the campus: www.huntington.org/this-land-is   

THIS LAND IS … is made possible through major support from The Fletcher Jones Foundation and Stewart R. Smith, Robin A. Ferracone, Logan Smith, and Tracy Beetler through The H. Russell Smith Foundation. Generous support for this initiative is also provided by LeeAnn and Ronald Havner through the JCS Foundation. 

About the Featured Guest  

Danielle Allen is the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University and a leading scholar of philosophy, ethics, and public policy. She directs the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Democratic Knowledge Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is also a seasoned nonprofit leader, democracy advocate, tech ethicist, and distinguished author. She is a contributing columnist at The Atlantic magazine and recipient of both the 2025 Barry Prize and the 2020 Kluge Prize from the Library of Congress.

Over nearly three decades in higher education, Allen has worked to make the world better for young people. She won the Quantrell Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching at the University of Chicago, where she also served as Dean of the Division of Humanities. Her public leadership includes chairing the board of the Mellon Foundation, contributing a long-running column to the Washington Post on constitutional democracy, and developing a public policy portfolio on issues from public health policy to democracy renovation, civic education, and technology governance. 

Allen’s current scholarship concentrates on democracy renovation: studying how to reconnect people to their civic power, experience, and responsibility via civic education and how to redesign our political institutions and encourage citizen participation. Her recent book, Justice by Means of Democracy, provides the foundation for this work, and her forthcoming book, Radical Duke, a biography of an 18th-century British political reformer, will be published in 2026.  

Her many books also include the widely acclaimed Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality; Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A.; Democracy in the Time of Coronavirus; Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship since Brown v. Board of Education; Why Plato Wrote; and The World of Prometheus: The Politics of Punishing in Democratic Athens. Among her many edited volumes are From Voice to Influence: Understanding Citizenship in a Digital Age and A Political Economy of Justice. 

Allen chairs the boards of Partners In Democracy and FairVote, co-chairs the Our Common Purpose Commission at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and serves on multiple civic and cultural boards.