Rebecca J. Scott, the John Hope Franklin Visiting Professor of American Legal History, delivered Duke University's 2017 Robert R. Wilson Lecture. Prof. Scott's lecture, "Adjudicating Status in a Time of Slavery: Luisa Coleta and the Capuchin Friar (Havana, 1817)," asks to what extent the exercise of authority under slavery was constrained by law. Was the Caribbean war refugee named Coleta a slave, or was she a free woman?

Writing in the Washington Post after the 2009 death of Dr. John Hope Franklin, Walter Dellinger, the Douglas B. Maggs Professor Emeritus of Law, said Franklin wrote, taught, and lived the story of race in America. To mark the centenary of Franklin's birth, Dellinger and William Leuchtenburg, the William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill will reflect upon the course that the three of them taught at Duke Law for seven years, as well as Franklin's influence and insights.

"What, precisely, is the legal evil of slavery?" Adrienne Davis, the John Hope Franklin Visiting Professor of American Legal History examines this question and other aspects of slavery's intersection with law when she delivers Duke University's annual Robert R. Wilson Lecture. Professor Davis is visiting Duke Law during the fall 2013 semester from Washington University in St. Louis, where she is Vice Provost and the William M. Van Cleve Professor of Law.

On Monday, April 11, at 5 p.m., Evelyn Higginbotham, our inaugural John Hope Franklin Professor of Law and History, will present a special lecture entitled "A Summons to History: The African American Historical Perspective in the Legal Battle for Racial Equality."

Join Professor Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, the inaugural John Hope Franklin Chair in American Legal History at Duke Law, as she speaks about her recent co-authorship of the 9th edition of John Hope Franklin's famous work From Slavery to Freedom. Professor Higginbotham will discuss Franklin's contribution to civil rights lawyers and the struggle for equality and justice for all. Sponsored by the Black Law Students Association.

Recorded on February 15, 2011.

Full title: Rewriting History: From Slavery to Freedom & the Legacy of John Hope Franklin.

The Brown Discussion features Historian John Hope Franklin, Judge Louis Pollak, Professor Jack Greenberg, Professor Guy-Uriel Charles, and is moderated by Professors Neil Siegel and Charles Clotfelter. They discuss what it took to enact the decision, how it has impacted education in the United States, and what the future holds for the landmark decision.

Recorded on March 27, 2008.

Panel titled: Brown vs. Board of Education: Past, Present & Future.

Appearing: Speakers: John Hope Franklin, Louis Pollak, Jack Greenberg, and Guy-Uriel Charles.

Introduction by Christopher Schroeder. Great Lives in the Law features renowned historian and James B. Duke Professor Emeritus John Hope Franklin, in conversation with Duke Law Professor Walter Dellinger.

Sponsored by the Program in Public Law.

Recorded on October 26, 2004.

A distinguished panel of scholars discusses race and social change in the United States. They focus on the subject of reparations.

Appearing: Katharine T. Bartlett (Dean, Duke University School of Law), introductions ; Trina Jones (Duke University School of Law), introductions ; John Hope Franklin, speaker ; William A. Darity (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), speaker ; James A. Joseph (Duke University), speaker.

Recorded on January 19, 2004.

Series: Jean E. and Christine P. Mills Conversation Series

April 17, 2009 - The Law School gathered to celebrate the life of Dr. John Hope Franklin and his contributions as a member of the Duke Law community and a renowned legal historian. Speakers include Duke Law Professor Walter Dellinger and UNC Professor Emeritus William Leuchtenburg, who co-taught Dr. Franklin's course at Duke Law from 1985 to 1992. They were joined by Professor Thavolia Glymph, Associate Professor and Interim Chair of African & African American Studies at Duke University. Dean David Levi moderated the discussion.

November 28, 2011 - Mary Dudziak, the John Hope Franklin Visiting Professor of American Legal History, delivers a public lecture on "The Martial Spirit" in American History: John Hope Franklin on Militarization and War.