Calendar
U.S. vs John Brown, presented by Mid-America Association of Law Libraries
Date: Thursday, Oct 15
Time: 7:00 PM
LOCATION
Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts
TICKET INFORMATION
This is not a ticketed event.
DETAILS
Following the Mid-America Association of Law Libraries Conference, the trial is free and open to the public.
It will start at 7:00 PM on Thursday, October 15 at the Missouri Theatre. Due to the violent nature of the historical events to be discussed, parental guidance for children 13 and under is encouraged.
JOHN BROWN TO BE TRIED FOR POTTAWATOMIE CREEK MASSACRE
Columbia, MO -- On May 24, 1856, John Brown led a raid of abolitionists on the pro-slavery settlement of Pottawatomie Creek in the Kansas Territory. On October 15, 2009, MU School of Law’s Historical and Theatrical Trial Society (HATTS) will present a historical mock trial of the United States versus John Brown. HATTS is a group of students and faculty dedicated to exploring the intersection of law, history and theatre. Each year the society selects an event from history that represents a potential cause of action that was never tried in its own time. It then researches the event and stages a mock trial that applies modern law to the historical facts.
In 1856, tensions between Free Staters and Pro-Slavery men ran high. The Free Staters from the East wanted to claim the Kansas Territory and ensure that it would always be free while the pro-slavery Missourians wanted to expand their agricultural way of life West and make Kansas a slaveholding territory. The competing factions were unwilling to compromise and turmoil erupted in the Territory. Both sides resorted to guerrilla warfare and violent raids on towns and settlements in both Missouri and Kansas. John Brown and his group responded to violence against the Free Staters in Lawrence, Kansas by going on a midnight raid of Pottawatomie Creek that resulted in the murder of five pro-slavery men.
MU law students, members of the Columbia community, professors, judges, and attorneys will portray historical characters and will try John Brown under Federal statutes for these crimes. Participants will be dressed in period costumes and will play roles that are historically accurate, legally factual, and theatrically interpretive of this bloody tragedy foreshadowing a ruptured nation.
Sponsored by:
Mid-America Association of Law Libraries
HeinOnline
The University of Missouri School of Law Library
*Note: event information has been provided by the producer, Mid-America Association of Law Libraries