Lawrence Cappello

Lawrence Cappello is an Assistant Professor of U.S. Legal and Constitutional History at The University of Alabama. He received his PhD from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

He is the author of None of Your Damn Business: A History of Privacy in the United States (University of Chicago Press). His essays have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The Nation, and The Hill.

Past Olios with Lawrence Cappello

Know Your Rights! A Constitutional History of American Protest
The Constitution of the United States explicitly guarantees the rights to “freedom of speech” and of “the people peaceably to assemble.” But the truth of it is, on-the-ground there are grey areas. And these grey areas are rife with misunderstanding and misinformation. So are curfews unconstitutional? When federal agents are sent to reign in local demonstrations without the permission of local leaders, is that illegal? Let's Explore.

Venue: None

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

Aug. 13, 2020, 7 p.m.

Reproductive Rights & Morality Law
We'll look to gain a better grasp of exactly how reproductive rights are positioned and protected in our laws and the current landscape of the reproductive rights debate.

Venue: None

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

June 16, 2020, 7:30 p.m.

Regulating Business in a Capitalist Society
Despite what you might have heard, the United States is not a free-market economy. American businesses play by a set of hard-won rules established over generations by workers and activists and their allies. We'll explore some of the key legal cases that continue to keep businesses accountable.

Venue: None

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

June 9, 2020, 7:30 p.m.

Think Olio Goes to Law School
This six-part Olio seminar offers a highly accessible primer to some of the most popular and controversial issues in US constitutional law. Just like in law school participants will explore these subjects by studying the great cases of US legal history.

Venue: None

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

May 26, 2020, 7:30 p.m.

Poor Men Are Not Free Men
The Great Depression and New Deal fundamentally altered our relationship with our government and redefined how Americans conceive of the word freedom. Crisis often breeds great change. It’s an important story. And a complicated one.

Venue: None

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

April 19, 2020, 7 p.m.

The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Two-Part Olio Series
The Great Depression and New Deal fundamentally altered our relationship with our government and redefined how Americans conceive of the word freedom. Crisis often breeds great change. It’s an important story. And a complicated one.

Venue: None

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

April 12, 2020, 7 p.m.

The Imperial Presidency
This special and distinctly non-partisan President’s Day Olio will explore the history of what Arthur Schlesinger called the “Imperial Presidency,” and trace the dangerous expansion of the executive branch under both political parties from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Donald J. Trump.

Venue: None

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

Feb. 24, 2020, 7:30 p.m.

Modern Privacy: Reclaiming Our Self Narratives
“If you’re not doing anything wrong then you should have nothing to hide.” Lawrence Cappello will walk us through this statement and it's implications while also arguing that privacy is one of the foremost issues of our civilization.

Venue: Strand Bookstore

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

Oct. 4, 2019, 7 p.m.

The 2nd Amendment Explained
Join constitutional scholar, Lawrence Cappello as we have a real discussion about the whole of the gun control issue. No political agenda -- just all of the facts and a chance to ask our most basic questions.

Venue: Berg'n

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

March 6, 2019, 7:30 p.m.

New Year’s House Party | Remembering 1919 – A Hellish Year
Join us for a history-themed New Year’s Olio as we mark the centennial of 1919 – a year where fissures across race, class, gender, politics, and public health made it seem to many as if the nation was being torn apart at the seams.

Venue: Living Room

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

Dec. 28, 2018, 7:30 p.m.

How to Talk About Privacy (Without Sounding Like a Conspiracy Theorist)
Exactly how privacy came to be recognized as a constitutional right is a complicated story that reaches back to the civil rights movement, the war on crime, the women’s movement and more.

Venue: Strand Bookstore

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

May 18, 2018, 7 p.m.

Olio Seminar | Humans and Technology: A History
We'll be exploring the many ways human beings have responded to, embraced, loved, become addicted to, and been fucked-over by technology throughout American history.

Venue: WeWork // 205 Hudson

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

April 12, 2018, 7 p.m.

Rise of the Factory, Death of the Artisan
We'll break-down the rise of the factory, the death of artisanal work, and the bloody battles of the early labor movement.

Venue: WeWork // 205 Hudson

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

April 12, 2018, 7 p.m.

Prohibition and the Brave Americans Who Kept Drinking Anyway
This short Olio will examine–over drinks–the social and political origins of Prohibition, how it was enforced, and the tactics used by those brave and forthright Americans who decided to keep drinking anyway.

Venue: Nowadays

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

April 11, 2018, 7:30 p.m.

Know Your Rights? Where is the Right to Privacy in the U.S. Constitution?
The right to privacy is a complicated story that touches on the civil rights movement, the war on crime, the women’s movement, and the crusade against communism.

Venue: Orrick

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

Nov. 28, 2017, 7 p.m.

1950s & Nostalgia: In Search of Greatness in the "Golden Age"
The United States experienced the highest standard of living of any nation in the history of human civilization in the 1950s. But the decade wasn't golden for everyone.

Venue: Atlas Studios // Newburgh, NY

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

Aug. 26, 2017, 7 p.m.

*Olio House Party* ​In Search of Greatness in the 1950s: Greatness For All?
We'll talk about the rise of television, the GI Bill, suburbanization, the baby boom, the Cold War, the early civil rights movement, and do a thorough re-examination of popular claims that the decade was America’s Golden Age.

Venue: Bed Stuy Brownstone

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

July 8, 2017, 7:30 p.m.

The Legal Roots of Reproductive Rights and the Birth Of Planned Parenthood
We'll discuss the origins of Planned Parenthood, the abortion debates of the twentieth-century, the early birth-control movement, the role of the Supreme Court on this issue and, most especially, the fact that reproductive rights are legally rooted in the constitutional right to privacy.

Venue: Strand Bookstore

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

June 2, 2017, 7 p.m.

Privacy and the Profit Motive: “If you’re not doing anything wrong then you should have nothing to hide.”

Venue: Strand Bookstore

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

Feb. 17, 2017, 7 p.m.

Where is the Right to Privacy in the U.S. Constitution, Exactly?

Venue: WeWork Dumbo Heights

Teacher: Lawrence Cappello

Oct. 25, 2016, 7 p.m.

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Olio: A miscellaneous collection of art and literature.