Slavery and the University of Virginia School of Law is a project of the UVA Law Library that examines UVA Law’s historical connections to the institution of slavery through people, places, and pedagogy. From UVA's Academical Village, legal education in the antebellum period played out within a landscape of enslavement. In the classroom, faculty lectured on slavery as a social good. Law student notebooks, digitized and available on this site, enable this new research into the inclusion of slavery in UVA’s antebellum legal curriculum.

February is Black History Month, and the Muse Law Library is proud to present our celebration of Black achievement in the law. Here you will find the full collection of the 47 slides exhibited throughout the Library this month, each one documenting a different Black trailblazer or icon. The people featured here all displayed resounding courage and perseverance as they struggled against injustices and abuses at the hands of an oppressive, bigoted system. You will find lawyers and judges, writers and artists, and civil rights activists all connected by the common thread of a dedication to racial justice.