Cottrol, Robert J. 1949- (Robert James Cottrol)

PERSONAL:

Born January 18, 1949, in New York, NY; son of Robert W. and Jewel Gassaway; married Susan Louise Lemmerbrock, June 20, 1987; children: John Marshall II, Dora Johanna. Ethnicity: "African American." Education: Yale University, B.A., 1971, Ph.D., 1978; Georgetown University, J.D., 1984. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Methodist.

ADDRESSES:

Office—George Washington University Law School, 2000 H St., N.W., Washington, DC 20052; fax: 202-994-9446. E-mail—bcottrol@law.gwu.edu.

CAREER:

Academic and lawyer. Connecticut College, New London, instructor, 1974-77; Emory University, Atlanta, GA, assistant professor of American studies, 1977-79; Georgetown University, Washington, DC, lecturer, 1979-84, assistant dean, visiting professor of law and legal history, 1995-96, Harold Paul Green Research Professor of Law and History, 1996—; admitted to the Bar of Pennsylvania State, 1984; admitted to the Bar of the District of Columbia, 1985; Boston College Law School, Boston, MA, assistant professor, 1984-87, associate professor of law, 1987-90; Rutgers School of Law, Camden, NJ, associate professor, 1990-91. University of Charlottesville, Charlottesville, VA, visiting assistant professor of law, 1988-89; also lectured in Brazil and Argentina; National Rifle Association Civil Rights Defense Fund trustee. Military service: U.S. Army Reserves, 1971-81; became captain; U.S. Air Force Reserves, 1981—; became lieutenant colonel; awarded Air Force Commendation Medal and Joint Service Commendation Medal.

MEMBER:

American Historical Association, American Society for Legal History, American Bar Association, Law and Society Association, American Society of Criminology, Organization of American Historians.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Outstanding academic book, Choice, 1983, for The Afro-Yankees; Langum Project prize for historical literature, 2003, for Brown v. Board of Education.

WRITINGS:

The Afro-Yankees: Providence's Black Community in the Antebellum Era, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1982.

(Editor and author of introduction) Gun Control and the Constitution: Sources and Explorations on the Second Amendment, Garland (New York, NY), 1993.

(Compiler) From African to Yankee: Narratives of Slavery and Freedom in Antebellum New England, M.E. Sharpe (Armonk, NY), 1998.

(With Raymond T. Diamond and Leland B. Ware) Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture, and the Constitution, University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, KS), 2003.

Contributor to periodicals, including Georgetown Law Journal, American Journal of Legal History, Law and Society Review, Slavery and Abolition: A Journal of Slave and Post-Slave Studies and American Quarterly, and Yale Law Journal. Editorial board member of Law and History Review.

SIDELIGHTS:

Robert J. Cottrol is an American academic and lawyer. He earned a bachelor of arts degree and a Ph.D. at Yale University before earning a juris doctorate from Georgetown University in 1984. He consecutively joined the military reserves and retired decades later as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserves. Cottrol entered a career in academia, starting as an instructor at New London's Connecticut College in 1974, before becoming an assistant professor at Atlanta's Emory University in 1977. Cottrol worked as a lecturer at Georgetown University from 1979 to 1984, but left Washington after being admitted to the Bar of Pennsylvania State in 1984. He began working as an assistant professor of law at Boston College Law School, becoming an associate professor of law in 1987. He worked for a year at Rutgers School of Law before returning to Georgetown University, where he was named the Harold Paul Green Research Professor of Law and History in 1996.

Cottrol published his first book, The Afro-Yankees: Providence's Black Community in the Antebellum Era, in 1982. In 1993, Cottrol edited and wrote the introductory paragraph of Gun Control and the Constitution: Sources and Explorations on the Second Amendment. The book compiles law-review articles, legislation, and court decisions to show how complex and varied the legal perspective is on the Second Amendment's right to bear arms, as well as the federal government's success and actual ability to regulate it.

Jacob Sullum, writing in Reason, noted that "to understand how gravely" some scholars "misrepresent the state of this controversy, one need only pick up a copy of Gun Control and the Constitution." Sullum continued, saying that as Cottrol explains "in Gun Control and the Constitution, recognizing a constitutional right to keep and bear arms is by no means the end of the gun control debate, any more than recognizing a constitutional right to free speech settles all issues concerning speech restrictions. We still have to resolve questions such as which weapons are covered and what kinds of regulations are appropriate and consistent with the Second Amendment…. But until proponents of gun control concede that it impinges on something more important than shooting deer or putting holes in targets, they should not be surprised that many people find their proposals inherently offensive, regardless of intent."

Cottrol compiled From African to Yankee: Narratives of Slavery and Freedom in Antebellum New England in 1998. The book steps outside of the traditional boundaries of free slave scholarship by positing five personal accounts of freed slaves in colonial and antebellum New England.

Theodore Kornweibel, Jr., writing in History: Review of New Books, observed that even though "these narratives contain interesting details, one wonders why this book was published. Cottrol's introduction describes the period and introduces each individual but adds little that is not already available in the monographic literature, including his own book on Providence blacks." Kenneth Banks, writing in the Canadian Journal of History, stated: "I have two small quibbles" with the book. The first, he found, "is the editorial decision to replicate the original printings, complete with long walls of paragraphs and confusing punctuation," citing that "this will diminish its accessibility to students for use in class discussions. The second is the use of the outdated word ‘Negro,’" noting that Cottrol occasionally uses it out of its historical context. Banks summarized that "although most of these narratives are known to specialists, Cottrol's collection will be highly useful to a larger public of American and African Diaspora historians, cultural studies scholars, and political scientists."

In 2003, Cottrol published Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture, and the Constitution with Raymond T. Diamond and Leland B. Ware. The study examines the findings of the landmark antisegregation in education case, Brown v. Board of Education, fifty years after the verdict. Cottrol also shows what steps the country has taken both forward and backward since the ruling was handed down.

Christopher W. Schmidt, writing on H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online, observed that the book "is clearly designed for classroom use." Schmidt did take issue with certain aspects of the book, noting that "although their project is more synthetic than interpretive, the authors do attempt to contribute their own distinctive vision of the history of Brown. The results of this effort are mixed. They occasionally pick up the theme of ‘caste’ as a way of understanding the position of blacks in American society, but they never seem fully comfortable with it. The authors do not adequately define the term for their purposes." Schmidt conceded that "more successful is their insightful discussion of the historiography of the Brown era as a key component of the ideology of the time, and their final chapter, an exploration of Brown's status as an icon of constitutional law."

Daniel Lipson, writing in the Law and Politics Book Review, found that the book contained "fascinating insights," adding that "the strength of the Cottrol, Diamond, and Ware Brown v. Board of Education book is its thorough description. The book provides a solid history of civil rights in America. Indeed, the book is about far more than one landmark court case, and the title is thus misleading. That said, the text is nonetheless appropriately targeted for audiences interested first and foremost in learning about this seminal case." Lipson warned, however, that "the book could have been strengthened by addressing the core argument by Gerald Rosenberg in The Hollow Hope. Since the publication of Rosenberg's book, discussions of [the case] invariably turn to his controversial argument about the impotency of the Supreme Court in containing the southern resistance to implementation. Yet Cottrol, Diamond, and Ware, make no direct mention of, and do not adequately examine, Rosenberg's ‘hollow hope’ argument." Lipson concluded that "while there is no shortage of books written about [the case] on its fiftieth anniversary, this book deserves a place on the shelf. It would be particularly good reading for undergraduate courses on racial history and politics, civil rights, and/or Constitutional law."

Terry Christner, reviewing the book in Library Journal, took note of an epilog that highlights the status of segregation in American schools, "showing how far we've slipped since this decision." Christner concluded that "although filled with legalese, this book is fairly accessible." With their "incisive analysis," James R. Sweeney commented that "the authors succeed in their goal of linking Brown to larger themes in American culture" in a review in the Historian. Sweeney went on to say that "the authors of this study have made a significant contribution to the literature on Brown. Although occasionally repetitive and containing some factual errors … the book is of value to specialists and the general reader." Peter Wallenstein, writing in the Journal of Southern History, concluded that "this thoughtful, wise, accessible, and prize-winning book should be kept in print as an exceptional introduction to the thorny issues that led up to Brown v. Board of Education and its long aftermath. But I urge that it be revised to accommodate updates—in events and in the literature—as well as corrections of nagging little errors." Jill Kasle, writing in Perspectives on Political Science, remarked that "like all passionate advocates, the authors sometimes overstate their case." Kasle concluded that "this thoughtful book" nonetheless "takes an important story and tells it very well."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Directory of American Scholars, 10th edition, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2002.

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, December, 1983, review of The Afro-Yankees: Providence's Black Community in the Antebellum Era, p. 1324.

American Journal of Legal History, April, 1995, James Etienne Viator, review of Gun Control and the Constitution: Sources and Explorations on the Second Amendment, p. 245.

Booklist, October 15, 2003, Vernon Ford, review of Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture, and the Constitution, p. 362.

Canadian Journal of History, December, 2000, Kenneth Banks, review of From African to Yankee: Narratives of Slavery and Freedom in Antebellum New England, p. 589.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, May, 2004, A.D. Sarat, review of Brown v. Board of Education, p. 1739.

Court Review, summer, 2004, review of Brown v. Board of Education, p. 64.

Georgetown Law Journal, July, 1999, Akhil Reed Amar, "An Afterword on ‘The Bill of Rights,’" p. 2347.

Historian, summer, 2005, James R. Sweeney, review of Brown v. Board of Education, p. 313.

History: Review of New Books, spring, 1999, Theodore Kornweibel, Jr., review of From African to Yankee, p. 108.

Journal of American History, September, 1983, review of The Afro-Yankees, p. 416.

Journal of Southern History, November, 1999, review of From African to Yankee, p. 921; November, 2006, Peter Wallenstein, review of Brown v. Board of Education, p. 984.

Journal of Supreme Court History, November, 2004, D. Grier Stephenson, Jr., review of Brown v. Board of Education, p. 346.

Journal of the Early Republic, spring, 1999, Howard Beeth, review of From African to Yankee, p. 130.

Law and History Review, spring, 1997, Michael A. Bellesiles, review of Gun Control and the Constitution, p. 203; summer, 2005, L.A. Powe, Jr., review of Brown v. Board of Education, p. 483.

Law and Politics Book Review, July, 2004, Daniel Lipson, review of Brown v. Board of Education, p. 525.

Law and Social Inquiry, spring, 2004, review of Brown v. Board of Education, p. 510.

Law Library Journal, spring, 2004, Brannon P. Denning, review of Brown v. Board of Education, p. 229.

Library Journal, October 15, 2003, Terry Christner, review of Brown v. Board of Education, p. 78.

Louisiana Bar Journal, April 1, 2004, E. Phelps Gay, review of Brown v. Board of Education, p. 424.

Perspectives on Political Science, fall, 2004, Jill Kasle, review of Brown v. Board of Education, p. 233.

Reason, December, 1995, Jacob Sullum, review of Gun Control and the Constitution, p. 50.

Reference & Research Book News, November, 1998, review of From African to Yankee, p. 50.

Tennessee Law Review, spring, 1995, Joyce Lee Malcolm, review of Gun Control and the Constitution, p. 813.

Tulane Law Review, June, 2004, Judith Kelleher Schafer, review of Brown v. Board of Education, p. 2317.

ONLINE

George Washington University Law School Web site,http://www.law.gwu.edu/ (March 25, 2008), author profile.

H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online,http://www.h-net.org/ (September, 2004), Christopher W. Schmidt, review of Brown v. Board of Education.

National Rifle Association Foundation Web site,http://www.nrafoundation.org/ (March 25, 2008), author profile.