John Fabian Witt’s latest Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America. Charles Garland’s grandfather was extraordinarily wealthy. Garland’s optimism was well rewarded. “In a world of shocking wealth disparities, shameless racism, and political repression, Garland opted instead to invest in a future where radical ideas—like working-class power, free speech, and equality—might flourish. Over the next two decades, the Garland Fund would nurture a new generation of wildly ambitious progressive projects.” He was operating in the 1920s and 1930s; by the 1950s, he had become obscure.
Professor Witt published on Charles Garland a couple of years ago in the Law and History Review. He said, “Legal history is the study of struggle between the world as it ought to be and the world as it is. As such, it is nearly always about the dialectic of capture and cooptation.” (I want to write about this in the future, because it is optimistic!)
Eric Foner wrote about this, “a remarkable reminder that people who adhere to diverse ideas about how to make this a better society can—indeed must—work together to bring about social change.”
I am guessing Hugh Garland (lawyer representing Irene Emerson, the owner of Dred Scott) and Charles Garland were opposite ends!
H/t William Solum.