In these absorbing accounts of five court cases, Jason A. Gilmer offers intimate glimpses into Texas society in the time of slavery. Each story unfolds along boundaries - between men and women, slave and free, black and white, rich and poor, old and young - as rigid social orders are upset in ways that drive people into the courtroom.

In these absorbing accounts of five court cases, Jason A. Gilmer offers intimate glimpses into Texas society in the time of slavery. Each story unfolds along boundaries - between men and women, slave and free, black and white, rich and poor, old and young - as rigid social orders are upset in ways that drive people into the courtroom.