Paul Peterson, professor of politics at Coastal Carolina University, will speak on the topic "Constitution Day: Rediscovering the Anti-Slavery Bias of the Constitution," on Thursday, Sept. 17, at 6 p.m. in the Edwards Recital Hall. The lecture, commemorating the national observance of Constitution Day, is free and open to the public.

Peterson will discuss a long lost but important aspect of the American Constitution -- the document's hostility to the institution of slavery, a belief that was well known through most of the 19th and early 20th centuries, but has now faded into the Constitution's lost history.

Peterson has taught courses in American government and political philosophy at CCU since 1982. He has served on the board of directors of the Center for the Study of the Constitution and served as a peer review panelist for the National Endowment for the Humanities and the U.S. Department of Education. He has served two terms on the South Carolina Humanities Council. In November 2000, he was elected to the Horry County Board of Education and was re-elected in 2004 and 2008. Peterson was the Student Government Association Distinguished Teacher of the Year for the 2003-2004 academic year, and, in 2004, he was the University's nominee for the Governor's Award as the state's Outstanding Professor of the Year.

He has written numerous articles, book chapters, essays, reviews and professional papers in the areas of American government, political philosophy and popular culture.

The Edwards Recital Hall is Room 152 of the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts, 133 Chanticleer Drive, Conway. For more information, contact Peterson at 843-349-2627 or peterson@coastal.edu.