HJS 100 The Individual on Trial

3 hours 

This first-year seminar considers the individual's experience of justice through the lens of the trial. Students will study three trials as recorded by historians, imagined by writers, and analyzed by philosophers, exploring events such as the Salem Witchcraft trials (1692), the Dred Scott Decision (1857), and the Scopes Monkey trial (1926). The course will situate the trials in their cultural and historical contexts as well as encourage students to examine their personal responses to them. While studying these pivotal trials, students will develop their writing and analytical skills as taught in the humanities disciplines of philosophy, literature, and history.