Law and Society in the South reconstructs eight pivotal legal disputes heard in North Carolina courts between the 1830s and the 1970s. Each case offers a vivid portrait of the laws, litigants, lawyers, judges, and affected communities, providing a better understanding of not only the Tar Heel State but also the South as a whole. This book examines some of the most controversial issues of southern history, including white supremacy and racial topics, the teaching of evolution in public schools, the role of religion in society, and Prohibition. Law and Society in the South divulges the true nature of North Carolina courts: as the unpredictable venues of intense battles between southerners as they endured dramatic changes in their governing values.

Law and Society in the South reconstructs eight pivotal legal disputes heard in North Carolina courts between the 1830s and the 1970s and examines some of the most controversial issues of southern history, including white supremacy and race relations, the teaching of evolution in public schools, and Prohibition. Finally, the book explores the various ways in which law and society interacted in the South during the civil rights era. The voices of racial minorities-some urging integration, others opposing it-grew more audible within the legal system during this time. Law and Society in the South divulges the true nature of the courts: as the unpredictable venues of intense battles between southerners as they endured dramatic changes in their governing values.

TABLE OF CONTENTSPreface.............................................................. 3Introduction.......................................................... 6 PART I: DRAWING LINES: FROM OLD SOUTH TO JIM CROW............ 20 Chapter 1: "White Husbands, White Wives, 'Mulatto' Babies: Divorce and Democratization in the Age of Jackson," by Charles Rayburn, Patrick Baetjer, Diana Bell, Tadd Bevan, Jessica Bogo, Edward Bonapfel, Douglas Elkins, Erin Kane, Michael Kaplan, Nancy Kohler, and John Wertheimer.............................. 21 Chapter 2: "Pinkney and Sarah Ross: The Legal Journey of an Ex-Slave and His White Wife on the Carolina Borderlands during Reconstruction," by Mark Jones, Brook Andrews, Joshua Bennett, Elizabeth Fleming, William Fortune, Christine Larned, J.J. McCarthy, Edward Page, Michael Wipfler, Richard Wright, and John Wertheimer...... 43 Chapter 3: "State v. William Darnell: De Jure Housing Segregation in Progressive Era Winston-Salem," by Michael E. Daly, R. Stanley Baker, John Bell, Wilson Buntin, Scott Herr, Andrew Holbrook, Sarah House, J. Matthew Strader, and John Wertheimer........ 70 PART II: TRADITION AND MODERNITY: CULTURAL CONFLICT BETWEEN THE WORLD WARDS........................................ 101 Chapter 4: "Pentuff v. Park: Evolution and Defamation in 1920s North Carolina," by Jamie McNab, Timothy Cook, David Dupee, John Marshall, Thomas WilliamPowell, Jr., Drew Prickett, and John Wertheimer........................... 102 Chapter 5: "'Escape of the Match-Strikers': The Samarcand Arson Case of 1931," by Brian Luskey, Christian Deichert, Eugene Jung, Rebecca MacLean, Dunn Mileham, Josh Norris, Ryan Patterson, Graham Powell, John Salter, Daniel Tedrick, Jamie White, David Wick, and John Wertheimer..................................... 143Chapter 6: "Padlocking Greenwich Village: Urbanization, Women, and Public Nuisance Law in Depression-Era North Carolina," by Alison Kalett, Magdalena Barbosa, Andrew Lanoha, Chad Phillips, Carrie Porath, David Rissing, Elisabeth Summerlin, Robin Turley, John Zidow, and John Wertheimer............................ 171 PART III: CIVIL RIGHTS............................................ 202 Chapter 7: "'Mr. Civil Rights': James R. Walker, Jr., Grassroots Litigation, and the Fight against North Carolina's Literacy Test, 1956-1961," by Jamie McNab, Louis Becker, Eleanor Blackey, Andrew Martin, Chioma Ohanyerenwa, Philip Osborne, Shepherd Reynolds, and John Wertheimer... 203 Chapter 8: "State v. Chavis (1980): Native Americans and School Desegregation in Robeson County, North Carolina," by Elizabeth Halligan, Kate Auletta, Hank Bahr, Kelly Carraway, Andrew Devore, Maurice Falls, Laura McAlister, Lane Oatey, Emily Pesses, Mark Pustay, Alan Williams, and John Wertheimer..................... 264Conclusion......................................................... 304PREFACE