Jonathan Ned Katz believes that the original legal records in these cases will certainly reveal fascinating new details about U.S. social life and legal history in the 19th Century.

W. L. Jones V. The State, 1897
An example is the published report, brief and abbreviated, of an 1897 Texas case. It involved a libel charge against the publishers of a newspaper that had alleged discrimination against African American women.

The paper had alleged that Irish conductors employed by a Galveston street car company, who discriminated against “colored ladies,” were “the descendants of Oscar Wilde [meaning that they commit the crime of sodomy].”  The bracketed explanation is in the published report.

The libel was affirmed by the appeals court. The brief published account and other documents relating to this case are reproduced or cited on OutHistory.org at W. L. Jones v. The State (Texas): November 24, 1897.

“That case touched tellingly on race, class, sexuality, and gender as indicated in the brief published report," says Katz, “and the original legal records, and any newspaper accounts and other documents about it will, I’m convinced, provide additional intriguing details about what was going on.”

One startling document referring to this case has already been discovered and is reprinted on OutHistory.org at: William Cowper Brann: "The Complete Works", 1898. It contains extremely derogatory language about, and threats against, the African Americans said to have committed the libel.

The Legal History Project
This OutHistory project involves, first, online research to find and copy the old published reports of these cases. The original publications are in the public domain. An example is the case already cited: W. L. Jones v. The State (Texas): November 24, 1897

Second, the Project involves research in the archives of many states or territories, including: Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington, and in the archives of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The original legal records in at least some of these 19th century cases do exist as indicated by Katz's earlier success in locating these document in two cases, the earliest, in Maryland in 1810 (Davis v. State), and a case in Texas, in 1867 (State v. Campbell). Katz found those original court records in the Texas State Archives, Austin, and the Maryland State Archives, Annapolis. The original records will be added to OutHistory.org.

Researchers will need to discover which archive holds each state's or territory's legal case appeals records or lower court rulings, send for copies, receive the copy, and upload it to OutHistory.org. In some cases, handwritten early legal records will need to be transcribed. Katz says that OutHistory.org will reimburse the researchers for the cost of copies if necessary.

Third, the Project involves research in old newspapers and secondary sources to see if any relevant additional information about the cases or the accuser, accused, prosecutor, attorneys, or judges can be found. The public can help with that research. Contact Jonathan Ned Katz at outhistory@gmail.com.

A chronological, annotated timeline of all the 19th century cases that mention "buggery," "crime against nature," or "sodomy" appear with the case citations on OutHistory.org.