Judge Ruffin, slavery, and public memory

The Perils of Public Homage:
Thomas Ruffin and State v. Mann in History and Memory

November 16, 2007

On Friday, November 16, experts in the law of slavery and the study of public memory will gather on the UNC campus to reconsider the position of Thomas Ruffin and State v. Mann within our historical legacy. Convening in the Di Phi Society’s restored Dialectic Chambers in New West, these scholars will take the judge and his work as points of departure for exploring the difficulties of remembering prominent people who supported systems of oppression.

Judge Ruffin was also prominent in the Episcopal Church: a member of St. Matthew's, Hillsborough, he served on the church's first vestry. He gave the land upon which the church is built and is buried in the churchyard. The parish house is named for him. Examining his legacy is important to the ongoing work of our church to comprehend and to address the legacy of slavery in our diocese and parishes.

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The memory of antebellum North Carolina Supreme Court Judge Thomas Ruffin looms large both on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where a dormitory bears his name, and in the state’s capital, where a statue of the judge greets visitors to the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

Across North Carolina, Ruffin, who served as chief justice from 1833 to 1852, is considered the greatest jurist in the state’s history. Remarkably, in the popular mind his reputation has not appreciably suffered for his authorship of State v. Mann (1830), the most notorious judicial opinion in the history of American slave law. In that decision, Ruffin held that North Carolina law insulated the renter of a slave from criminal prosecution for shooting her in the back. “The power of the master must be absolute,” wrote the judge, “to render the submission of the slave perfect.”

Judge Ruffin was also a prominent member of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Hillsborough, where he served on the first vestry. He gave the land upon which the church is built. He is buried in the churchyard. The parish house is named for him. Thus, an examination of Ruffin's legacy is important to the ongoing work of our church to understand and address the legacy of slavery in our diocese and parishes.

On Friday, November 16, experts in the law of slavery and the study of public memory will gather on the UNC campus to reconsider the position of Thomas Ruffin and State v. Mann within our historical legacy. Convening in the Di Phi Society’s restored Dialectic Chambers in New West, these scholars will take the judge and his work as points of departure for exploring the difficulties of remembering prominent people who supported systems of oppression.

Speakers will include legal scholars Sanford Levinson, Mark Tushnet, Al Brophy, Adrienne Davis, Sally Greene, and Eric Muller, historians Laura Edwards and David Loewenthal, philosopher Bernard Boxill, and North Carolina Court of Appeals Judge James A. Wynn, Jr.

The event, which will get under way at 9 a.m. and continue until 4:30 p.m. with a break for lunch, is jointly sponsored by the University of North Carolina School of Law, the Center for the Study of the American South, and the UNC Institute for the Arts and Humanities. It is free and open to the public.

Sponsored by the School of Law, the Center for the Study of the American South, and the Institute for the Arts and Humanities.

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Note: Research attorney and Chapel Hill Council member Sally Greene has a blog entry on Thomas Ruffin here.

Thanks to Brooks Graebner, Rector of St. Matthew's, Hillsborough and Diocesan Historiographer, for information about this symposum and about Ruffin's connection to St. Matthew's.