Patricia Williams does not shy away from hard subjects. From writing about CRISPR gene editing to critical race theory, the Northeastern University law professor fielded questions and shared reflections on a host of bioethical, racial and legal topics at a book talk on Sunday.
Ms. Williams spoke with writer, photographer and art historian Teju Cole at Featherstone Center for the Arts to discuss her newest book of essays, The Miracle of the Black Leg: Notes on Race, Human Bodies, and the Spirit of the Law.
Ms. Williams said the unifying force for her wide-ranging book was born from her fixation with a painting of Cosmas and Damian, two physicians who were later sainted, performing a transplantation of a Black leg onto a white body. The original owner of the limb lies lifeless and legless in the foreground of the painting.
The painting deeply disturbed Ms. Williams but it also provoked some legally relevant questions for the professor of contract law and MacArthur Fellowship winner. Contract law governs the creation and enforcement of agreements between parties. Constitutional law, on the other hand, concerns itself with concepts that are harder to objectively define, such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and civil rights and privileges.
Ms. Williams’ book exists somewhere in the uncertain space between constitutional and contract law where human bodies — and so often Black bodies — are subject to objectification, commodification and dismissal.
“I’m a lawyer, so I put everything into files,” Ms. Williams told the audience. “So, this book came to be from a file of my musings and meditations.”
These musings and meditations deftly balance personal narrative with issues many have grappled with in recent years. Covid-19, gun violence, natural disaster relief efforts and the rising cost of healthcare have all brought to light the ways in which many attempt to legislate ownership over the human body.
Mr. Cole suggested that the thesis of the book revolved around a series of questions.
“What do people think they can buy, what do people think they can own and what are our relationships to others as a result, are the kinds of questions your book aims to answer,” Mr. Cole said.
This desire to legislate the human body reaches beyond the physical, Ms. Williams added, as restrictions are imposed on the teaching of history. Certain laws currently being enacted have all but guaranteed that the next generation of American schoolchildren will be taught American history devoid of mentions of race, sex, gender or any other topic deemed “offensive,” she said.
Ms. Williams pulls the threads of her essays together with an enduring desire for the truth to be told, and for her work to do right by history.
“I feel like what I have to do is represent them [my ancestors] in a way that is reflective of their experiences,” she said.
Mr. Cole sang the praises of Ms. Williams’ book, while also noting that many of the stories were disheartening, and some downright enraging.
“You should really read this book,” he said. “It’s really good cardio. It’ll get your heart rate going.”
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