Famous American Trials (221-0-20)
Instructors
Joanna Lynn Grisinger
847 491 3987
620 Lincoln St #201
Meeting Info
Harris Hall 107: Tues, Thurs 12:30PM - 1:50PM
Overview of class
The American courtroom has provided a venue through which Americans have grappled with moral panics, political tensions, celebrity scandal, and mass violence. The high-profile prosecutions of people ranging from Lizzie Borden to OJ Simpson had a powerful hold on American culture at the time. And although these trials rarely had a significant effect on the law, they remain potent cultural touchstones, their stories told and retold through movies, television shows, podcasts, songs, and souvenirs.
This course examines several famous American trials—famous both in their time and today—to understand and examine key themes in American political, legal, social, economic, and cultural history. We will focus largely on the twentieth century—a period of multiple "Trials of the Century" —to see how each trial crystallized broader political and social tensions over ethnicity, gender, race, religion, politics, sexuality, and social status. Each trial combined elements of both formal law and public theater; through these trials, we'll examine the relationship between legal reasoning and storytelling. We will also examine how and why we return to such stories; how do they endure in historical memory, and what tensions do they help us think about today?
Class Notes
Concentration: Americas
Class Attributes
Historical Studies Foundational Discipline
Historical Studies Distro Area
U.S. Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity
Associated Classes
DIS - Locy Hall 110: Fri 11:00AM - 11:50AM
DIS - Locy Hall 305: Fri 1:00PM - 1:50PM
DIS - Locy Hall 110: Fri 2:00PM - 2:50PM
DIS - Harris Hall L28: Fri 11:00AM - 11:50AM
DIS - Kresge Centennial Hall 2-425: Fri 1:00PM - 1:50PM
DIS - Kresge Centennial Hall 2-343: Fri 2:00PM - 2:50PM
DIS - Annenberg Hall G30: Fri 11:00AM - 11:50AM
DIS - Harris Hall L28: Fri 1:00PM - 1:50PM
DIS - Harris Hall L28: Fri 2:00PM - 2:50PM