Legal Historian to Speak at Royall House About Harvard Law School, Connection to Royalls
On Wednesday, April 6, 2016, at 7:30 p.m., legal historian Daniel R. Coquillette, will give an illustrated book talk about On the Battlefield of Merit: Harvard Law School, the First Century.
Harvard University’s recent decision to retire Harvard Law School’s shield, which was derived from the family crest of Isaac Royall, Jr., has brought new attention to the history of Harvard Law School. This renewed attention was sparked by historian Daniel Coquillette’s new history of the first century of Harvard Law School, which explores the school’s ties with institutional slavery.
During its first century, Harvard Law School pioneered revolutionary educational ideas, including professional legal education within a university, Socratic questioning and case analysis, and the admission and training of students based on academic merit. But the school struggled to navigate its way through the many political, social, economic, and legal crises of the century, and it earned both scars and plaudits as a result. Historian Daniel Coquillette will examine the school’s connection to northern and southern slavery, involvement in the Civil War, reluctance to admit minorities and women, pervasive anti-Catholicism, and the racism that, he says, “runs like a river through†this history.
The event will be held at the Royall House and Slave Quarters at 15 George Street, Medford, and is free to Royall House and Slave Quarters members. General admission is $5. Copies of Battlefield will be available for purchase and signing at the event.
On-street parking is available, and the museum is located on the 96 and 101 MBTA bus routes. Please email director@RoyallHouse.org for more information or visit RoyallHouse.org. Find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
About the speaker: Co-author of On the Battlefield of Merit with historian Bruce A. Kimball, Professor Coquillette is J. Donald Monan, S.J., University Professor, Boston College Law School, and Charles Warren Visiting Professor of American Legal History, Harvard Law School.
About the museum: In the eighteenth century, the Royall House and Slave Quarters was home to the largest slaveholding family in Massachusetts and the enslaved Africans who made their lavish way of life possible. Architecture, household items, and archaeological artifacts bear witness to the intertwined stories of wealth and bondage, set against the backdrop of America’s quest for independence. The Slave Quarters is the only remaining such structure in the northern United States, and the Royall House is among the finest colonial-era buildings in New England.
– Submitted by Tom Lincoln, Royall House Director