EPISODE 4: Al Brophy

In this episode, Siobhan meets with University, Court and Slave: Pro-Slavery Thought in Southern Colleges and Courts and the Coming of Civil War author Alfred L. Brophy, the Judge John J. Parker Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law. In his new book, Brophy brings to life the dynamic interplay between law and culture by mapping out the crisscrossing intellectual paths between southern courts and universities in the mid-nineteenth century. Brophy discusses the pro-slavery polemics that were delivered by southern lawyers, judges, and politicians to university students. At the same time, he shows  how pro-slavery ideas fomented in the academy heavily influenced judicial reasoning in southern courtrooms and exposes some of the horrors endured by enslaved people living on university campuses.