Annual Robert R. Wilson Lecture: "You will please let me know if we are free": The Dissolution of Property Rights in Human Beings in War and the Bounds of Freedom

Thavolia Glymph, the John Hope Franklin Visiting Professor of American Legal History and a professor in the departments of History and African & African American Studies at Duke University will give the annual Robert R. Wilson Lecture titled, "'You will please let me know if we are free:' The Dissolution of Property Rights in Human Beings in War and the Bounds of Freedom." In August of 1864, Annie Davis wrote a letter to President Abraham Lincoln. She expressed her "desire to be free" and asked Lincoln to let her know if she was indeed free. Did her mistress still have a property right in her or could she leave and go where she pleased? Davis' query addressed a fundamental question: when did slavery end? This lecture explores that question - the indeterminate status of black people in the South - during the Civil War and after the passage of the 13th Amendment. Sponsored by the Office of the Dean. For more information, please contact Kristin Triebel at kristin.triebel@law.duke.edu.