The Honorable Nelson A. Díaz Professorship in Law Annual Lectureship Slavery and Freedom
in Puerto Rico

His scholarship examines how formerly enslaved Puerto Ricans (“libertos”) resisted the three-year forced labor mandate that was articulated through the March 1873 law that abolished slavery in Puerto Rico, as well as the archival silences surrounding their acts of resistance. He is currently working on his manuscript about the topic and a suite of digital tools and trainings that expand access to the archival records related to enslaved and newly emancipated Black people in Puerto Rico. He has consulted about slavery and abolition in Puerto Rico for the PBS show “Finding Your Roots” and various film and documentary projects related to Puerto Rican history.

Over the past decade, Dr. Morales-Armstrong has taught courses about the legacies of slavery in Latin America, and specifically in Puerto Rico, at the University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University – Camden, and through an innovative study abroad program about Afro-Latin American history that brought New York City public school school students to Cuba, Peru, and Puerto Rico.

Dr. Morales-Armstrong’s research has been generously funded by the Ford Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and others. His published work can be found in Slavery & Abolition, Centro Journal, the Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation, as well as in edited volumes in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Judge Campbell is a regular presenter/guest lecturer with Temple University School of Law’s international programs, providing training in trial advocacy to lawyers and judges visiting from Latin American nations. Judge Campbell has lectured on topics like trial practice, evidence, sentencing, judicial ethics, official corruption, career development, civics education, and diversity in the legal field. He has addressed audiences at institutions and events like Temple University Beasley School of Law, Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, II Congreso Internacional Anticorrupción (Rep. of Panamá), National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), and many others. Additionally, Judge Campbell has often welcomed new citizens as a featured speaker in Naturalization ceremonies. Judge Campbell previously served on the Judicial Ethics Committee of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges (PCSTJ) (July 2018 – July 2022), and co-Chairs the Ethics Subcommittee of the First Judicial District’s Education Committee (2019-pres). Judge Campbell previously chaired the First Judicial District’s Summer Internship Program (2016-2018) and National Bar Association Judicial Council – Clifford Scott Green Chapter (2016-2018). He has also served on the First Judicial District’s Guaranteed Fee System Reform Committee (2016-2021), and the Steering Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Advancing Civics Education (A.C.E.) Program (2011-2021). As an attorney, Judge Campbell was a trial and appellate advocate for 20 years, with a strong focus on criminal defense in both federal and state courts. He was actively involved in pro bono representation, both individually and in collaboration with public service institutions like the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Pro Bono Project and the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia (PILCOP). For over three decades, Judge Campbell has participated in countless Law Related and Civic Education (LRCE) projects that primarily support public high school students. Judge Campbell was born in the Republic of Panama and immigrated to New York City at twelve years of age. He soon supplemented native Spanish fluency with extensive studies in Latin American and Spanish Literature, linguistics, translation theory, and language policy. Judge Campbell earned his J.D. from Temple University School of Law in 1993. He received a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences and a Minor in International Studies from S.U.N.Y. – Stony Brook, New York in 1989.

From his humble beginnings, this native New Yorker grew up in a public housing development in Harlem. He dedicated his life to fight for the expansion of civil and human rights for all. As a recipient of three United States Presidential Appointments, his public service exemplifies the qualities of intelligence, imagination and judgment impacting public policy nationwide as evidenced by the “Díaz Opinion”. This “breakthrough opinion” helped inaugurate a new model for affordable housing development using mixed finance through public/private funding and mixed low income and market rate units to revitalize housing for the poor.

As champion for diversity, equity and inclusion, Judge Díaz has mentored young professionals throughout his career. He advocated for marginalized and underrepresented groups, including African Americans and other communities of color, Soviet Jews, women, Latinos and the Puerto Rican diaspora. As a leader in economic development, pioneer in court reform, champion for fair housing, fighter for bilingual education, employment and voting rights, as well as, immigration protections, Judge Díaz positively impacted the lives of the voiceless and the most vulnerable.

Nelson A. Díaz monitored elections in Latin America; he was the first American Judge to sit on a Japanese Court as a Japan Society Fellow; he fought for the human rights of Soviet Jews in USSR and he taught the American legal and jurisprudence system in Albania, Peru, Columbia and China. As a co-founder of the Latino-Jewish Coalition of the American Jewish Committee, he promoted stronger collaboration between the two communities. This Fulbright Scholar, received five (5) Honorary Doctorate Degrees and numerous awards in recognition of his legal contributions including the Justice Sonia Sotomayor Diversity Award.  The Legal Intelligencer awarded 100 of Pennsylvania’s most influential attorneys with a Lifetime Achievement Award including Judge Díaz.

In his numerous ground-breaking professional roles, as a partner in a Top 100 law firm, City Solicitor of Philadelphia, or Corporate Director of Exelon Corporation, a fortune 100 company, Nelson Díaz has fought for diversity, equity and inclusion in the public and private sectors and paved the way for many others.

His powerful and inspirational autobiography, “Not from Here, Not from There – No Soy De Aquí Ni De Allá,” which has been positively received, Díaz said, “I may have been the first but I don’t want to be the last.”