Academic

Thomas Cobb

By Alfred Brophy

Last month I attended a fabulous seminar at the Thomas Cobb house in Athens, Georgia.  The reading for the seminar was Cobb's An Inquiry into the Law of Negro Slavery, which he published in 1858.  The first half of the book is about the history of slavery; the second part is about the contemporary law of slavery -- and what's of particular interest to me is that he uses the history to inform his interpretation of slave law.   A lot of the legal part of the treatise involves recitation of doctrine -- but some of it draws upon his historical section to argue that slavery (not freedom) is the natural and default position.  Pretty interesting to see how Cobb interprets his world. 

In addition to having some great conversations about the book, which looms large in University, Court, and Slave, I also have some great pictures of Athens--from the inside of the Cobb house, of Cobb's grave, and of the UGA campus, which I'll be talking about in due course.  This trip to Athens rivals the trip I took at the end of last summer to Asheville.

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on September 16, 2009 (boomark / email).