Thomas Cobb

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.

Comments

[Jeff Yates]

Athens is certainly a cool town. What local icons did you visit?

[Alfred]

The stadium, of course; the literary societies on main campus; even -- and this was most exciting -- the tree that owns itself!

[John Nelson]

Next time you wander down Athens way let me know. I attended UGA for undergrad and I am a member (alumn) of the Phi Kappa Literary and Debate Society, of which Brother Cobb was also a member (along with his brother).

I am glad you enjoyed it. And yes, the tree that owns itself is pretty cool.

My email is below:
[email protected]

[Jeff Yates]

Athens:

Eats: The Grit, Weaver D's (or Peaches, or Wilsons Soul Food), the Varsity, BBQ Shack (or Fresh Air BBQ or Jotemdown BBQ); Agua LInda; Jittery Joes; plantation buffet (I think Tuesday is goat day)

Sights: the wall of televisions; the (half) train tressel; the hollowed out house and the all green residence; memorial park and "zoo"; double barreled cannon;

There's much more, but that should keep you busy for a while.

[Elizabeth Leonard]

Athens native, UGA Law grad. ('99), and UGA Law teaching fellow ('03 - '04) -- couldn't get enough! I get to go home in two weeks. Athens in the fall is second only to Athens in the spring. Will you share photos?

The Cobb house move and renovation was a source of considerable controversy among local historic preservationists and others concerned about "celebrating" a former slave owner. I'm glad it was resolved and the project is promoting scholarship and education.

[Alfred]

Yes, Elizabeth; I'm going to be posting some more photos shortly. Got a post scheduled for next Monday on a bookcase in the Cobb house. I got some nice photos of the campus, too--but what I didn't get was a photo of the tree that owns itself (or the double-barreled canon). Gives me something to get on the next trip. Jeff--I'm guessing I'm going to skip goat day, but the other suggestions sound fabulous.

Somewhere down the road I want to learn a ton more about Phi Kappa, too, John. Down the road I want to do some work on the UGA's library records, which give us a sense of who borrowed what in the antebellum era. Been working my way through those records on the UNC campus (er, well, one of my fantastic ras has been working her way through them on my behalf); but I want to make some use of the antebellum UGA library records....

Cobb's a person of much interest to me, because he was a lawyer, an academic (co-founded the Lumpkin law school), and a key figure in secession and during the war. So he wraps up in one person pretty much everything I'm interested in, in University, Court, and Slave.

[Jeff Yates]

Alfred, be sure to check out the rare book room, especially some of the genealogy stuff and a very rare copy of a book on Chang and Eng Bunker - the original conjoined twins (married to two sisters named Yates - and yes, related).