Research Guides: Jim Crow Justice, Hist 3142/AFRS 3142: Law-Primary

Slavery in America and the world : history, culture & law
Brings together, for the first time, all known legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. This includes every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery. The library has hundreds of pamphlets and books written about slavery defending it, attacking it or simply analyzing it. We have gathered every English-language legal commentary on slavery published before 1920, which includes many essays and articles in obscure, hard-to-find journals in the United States and elsewhere. We have provided more than a thousand pamphlets and books on slavery from the 19th century. We provide word searchable access to all Congressional debates from the Continental Congress to 1880. We have also included many modern histories of slavery. Within this library is a section containing all modern law review articles on the subject

Federal Constitution

Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence. S. Doc. 116-3. September 20, 2019.

Federal laws - search strategies

Use the "Key Law Databases" tab. In general, Westlaw and Nexis Uni are good databases to search for United States Statutes at Large. HeinOnline is excellent for the full-text of United States Statutes at Large and the United States Code and for earlier editions of the United States Code. As needed, instructions are given on that tab on how to search most efficiently.

Some of the key early federal laws are listed in the box under "Presidential proclamation, constitutional amendment, and key federal statutes".

Federal court opinions - search strategies

Use the "Key Law Databases" tab. In general, Westlaw and Nexis Uni are good databases to search for federal court opinions. HeinOnline is excellent for the full-text of Supreme Court opinions. As needed, instructions are given on that tab on how to search most efficiently.

We have a fairly complete set of United States Reports in print: Bowdoin Govt Doc JU 6.8:

State laws - search strategies

When you have a citation for a state law

Search on the title of the publication in which the law is published using HathiTrust > Catalog in the Title field. For example, search on the title:
"Acts of the General Assembly of the state of Alabama".

When you don't have a citation, but are looking for a review of state laws

The best strategy by far: The "Law - secondary" tab lists a number of sources listing laws and/or court opinions as well as search strategies for finding other secondary sources.
A less effective strategy: Search on the following in the subject field in the catalog in HathiTrust, substituting the state of interest:
(law OR laws) AND alabama
(law OR laws) AND "north carolina"
Another less effective strategy: Alternatively, do an Advanced Full-text Search in HathiTrust. "AND" 4 searches in the Full-Text + All Fields field together: (1) the name of the state, and (2) words for types of laws likely to appear in the laws themselves, and (3) words likely to appear in the laws that describe the people the laws apply to, and (4) optionally, words related to the topic of interest likely to appear in the laws. For example:
alabama
AND
law OR laws OR legislation OR acts OR ordinance*
AND
Negro* OR color* OR freedmen
AND
vagran*

Look for titles such as the following (selected). (Note that titles vary considerably even within a state.)

Alabama	Acts of the General Assembly of the state of Alabama Penal Code of Alabama
Arkansas	Acts of the General Assembly of the state of Arkansas Acts passed at the ... session of the General Assembly of the State of Arkansas
Florida	Acts and resolutions of the General Assembly of the state of Florida The acts and resolutions adopted by the General Assembly of Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mississippi	Acts passed at the ... session of the ... General Assembly of the State of Mississippi
Missouri
North Carolina	Public laws of the State of North Carolina Private laws of the State of North Carolina Laws and resolutions of the State of North Carolina Public laws and resolutions of the State of North Carolina Public local laws of the state of North Carolina Public local laws passed by the General Assembly
South Carolina	Acts of the General Assembly of South Carolina Acts of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina
Tennessee	Acts of the state of Tennessee
Texas
Virginia

Lists of state session laws

The Black codes of the South, Theodore B. Wilson, 1965. See pp. 170-173 for a list of titles of publications containing state session laws.

Checklists of basic American legal publications, edited by Meira G. Pimsleur, 1962
Main Ref KF1 .P5
Can be useful to get titles of state legal materials.

State court opinions - search strategies

The "Law - secondary" tab lists a number of sources listing laws and/or court opinions.

Use the "Key Law Databases" tab. In general, Westlaw and Nexis Uni are good databases to search for state court opinions. As needed, instructions are given on that tab on how to search most efficiently.

Presidential proclamation, constitutional amendment, and key federal statutes

Because the citations have changed over the years, the "United States Code" column contains citations to the U.S.C. from the editions of 1925-1926, 1952, and/or 2012.

Date	Title of law or section [popular names]	United States Statutes at Large (Stat.)	Revised Statutes of 1878 (R.S.); United States Code (U.S.C.)
Jan 1, 1863	By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation [Emancipation Proclamation]	In A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. New York: Bureau of national literature, inc., [1917?], vol. 8, pp. 3358-3360. Main Ref J81 .B96g. (print and online). See also "By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation," vol. 7, pp. 3297- 3299.
ratified Dec 18, 1865	13th Amendment	In Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence. S. Doc. 116-3. September 20, 2019.
Apr 9, 1866	An Act to Protect all Persons in the United States in their Civil Rights, and Furnish the Means of their Vindication [Civil Rights Act of 1866]	ch. 31, 14 Stat. 27
May 21, 1866	An Act to Prevent and Punish Kidnapping [Slave Kidnapping Statute]	ch. 86, 14 Stat. 50	R.S. §5524, 18 U.S.C. 496 §428 (1925-1926), 18 U.S.C. 2442 §1588 (1952), later repealed; R.S. §5525, 18 U.S.C. 497 §443 (1925-1926), 18 U.S.C. 2441 §1583 (1952), later repealed
Mar 2, 1867	An Act to Abolish and Forever Prohibit the System of Peonage in the Territory of New Mexico and other Parts of the United States [Peonage Abolition Act; Antipeonage Act of 1867]	ch. 187, 14 Stat 546	R.S. §1990, 8 U.S.C. 125 §56 (1925-1926), 42 U.S.C. 689 §1994 (2012); R.S. §1991, later repealed; R.S. §5526, 18 U.S.C. 497 §444 (1925-1926), 18 U.S.C. 2441 §1581 (1952), later repealed; R.S. §5527, 18 U.S.C. 497 §445 (1925-1926), 18 U.S.C. 2441 §1581 (1952), later repealed
Mar 4, 1909	Depriving Citizens of Civil Rights under Color of State Laws	ch. 321, 35 Stat 1088, §20 at 1092	18 U.S.C. 2348 §242 (1952)
Jun 25, 1948	Conspiracy Against Rights of Citizens	62 Stat 696 §241, Public Law 772	18 U.S.C. 2348 §241 (1952)
Jun 25, 1948	Sale into Involuntary Servitude	ch. 645, 62 Stat 773 §1584, Public Law 772	18 U.S.C. 2441 §1584 (1952), 18 U.S.C. 385 §1584 (2012)

Based on: Caldwell, Arthur B. "The Civil Rights Section - Its Functions and its Statutes." In Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights. Civil Rights - 1957. 85th Cong., 1st sess., February 14-16, 18-21, 26, March 1, 4-5, 1957, 222-237. ProQuest Congressional. "An address by Arthur B. Caldwell, Civil Rights Section, Department of Justice, before the civil rights class of the summer session of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa., on July 10, 1953 (revised January 1957)." Section on "Involuntary servitude, slavery, and peonage statutes", pp. 230-232.

Examples of state laws (extracts)

"An act to amend the vagrant laws of the state." Laws of the State of Mississippi [...] held in the City of Jackson, October, November and December, 1865, approved 24 November 1865. Chapter VI, section 7, p. 93.

"An act to reorganize the state prison and to repeal and reenact chapter 130 of the consolidated statutes of North Carolina, and acts amendatory thereto." State of North Carolina. Public Laws and Resolutions passed by the General Assembly at its session of 1925. Chapter 163, p. 383.