HIST 350-01, Selected Advanced Topics in History: Law and Justice in the American South, Spring 1999

Abstract

This course focuses on southerners’ notions of law and justice from the antebellum period to the present. By looking at both primary and secondary sources, students will explore how southerners thought about and engaged in extra-legal activities, including vigilantism and lynching, as well as how they established and utilized formal legal institutions such as courts. Thus, the class will examine both popular attitudes and legal doctrine relating to such issues as slavery, violence, secession, racial control, religious life, and civil rights. This course is a seminar. That means that each student must complete the assigned readings and come to class prepared to discuss them. After completing this course, students should have a broad understanding of the development of southern experience with law and justice, as well as improved written, oral, and critical thinking skills.