Book Note: An Appreciation of Deborah Johnson’s novel, The Secret of Magic, by Philip D. Beidler
The University of Alabama School of Law is co-sponsor, with the American Bar Association, of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. The winner for 2015 is Deborah Johnson’s powerful and evocative novel The Secret of Magic, set in post-World War II Mississippi. The following is an appreciation of The Secret of Magic, contributed by…
Justice Hugo Black Study Reopens
Litera Scripta is pleased to announce that following significant renovations this summer, the Hugo Black Study at the Bounds Law Library has reopened to visitors. The exhibit, which is a replica of Justice Black’s Alexandria Virginia study, underwent improvements including repainting, a new ceiling, and redesigned lighting. The collection is located in room 211 in…
Historic Maps of Alabama: Judge Benjamin Cohen Exhibit
Litera Scripta, the Special Collections Blog of the Bounds Law Library, is pleased to announce a new exhibit featuring a collection of historic Alabama maps donated by Judge Benjamin G. Cohen. The maps were acquired by Judge Cohen during and after litigation of the Alabama and Mississippi Boundary Case [470 U.S. 93 (1985)], in which…
Guest Contributor: Professor Sally E. Hadden’s “The Many Meanings of Magna Carta”
It is with great pleasure that we post an entry from a distinguished guest contributor and a good friend of Litera Scripta, Sally E. Hadden, of Western Michigan University. Magna Carta is a foundation stone of our legal culture, and to celebrate its 800th Anniversary we are proud to include the following essay. Although jewelry…
New Acquisitions: Judge Cecil M. Deason Collection
In Alabama, one seldom has a chance to examine the papers of a state trial court judge. Circuit judges don’t often leave behind collections for posterity—less so, certainly, than their counterparts on the appellate bench. The Bounds Law Library recently received the papers of Judge Cecil M. Deason (1903-1994), who lived in stirring times and…
Book Note: Jack Bass’ Taming the Storm: The Life and Times of Frank M. Johnson, Jr. and the South’s Fight Over Civil Rights
Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., is rightly one of the most celebrated Federal District and U.S. Court of Appeals judges in American history. As a member of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama from 1955-1979, Johnson shaped the legal trajectory of several key Civil Rights Movement cases, including Browder v. Gayle…
In Memoriam Brad LeMarr (1974-2015)
We announce with much sadness the death of University of Alabama School of Law graduate and former Special Collections Research Assistant Brad E. LeMarr. Brad died on January 20, 2015, at the age of forty. Possessed of a truly versatile mind, Brad earned advanced degrees in History and Classics in addition to the JD (class…
