[KS] Korea Fulbright Forum-Friday, February 25, 6:30 p.m.

[Dylan S. Davis gmail]

Fulbright Forum!!

Fulbright in Seoul (the Korean American Educational Commission) is pleased
to invite you to attend the Fulbright Forum for February, which will be held
on Friday, February 25, 2005, at 6:30 p.m. at the Commission offices in
Mapo.

The speaker this month is Dale Baum, Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer to
Korea at Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies and
professor of History at Texas A&M University.  His talk, "Counterfeit
Justice:  A Texas Freedwoman's Story" will discuss his current research on
the forgotten life of an illiterate freedwoman named Azeline Hearne.  She
managed to survive an obscure life under slavery only to become in her old
age a reclusive, sickly, and poorly dressed woman wandering from place to
place in the Brazos River "bottomlands" in Robertson County, Texas.
Although she was never acknowledged by society to have in any way influenced
the course of historical events, her life reveals as much, if not more,
about the period of Reconstruction after the American Civil War than the
lives of many who attained distinction through their wealth or extraordinary
achievements.

As a slave, Azeline cohabitated with her unmarried and wealthy master,
Samuel ("Sam") R. Hearne.  When Sam died in 1866 he publicly acknowledged,
to the dismay and anger of his brothers and cousins, his years of
fornication and miscegenation by bequeathing his entire estate to his
mulatto son, a minor of twenty years of age, with a provision that he take
care of his mother, Azeline.  When her son died in 1868, Azeline, as her son
's sole legatee, became the owner of one of the most profitable cotton
plantations in East Texas-a circumstance briefly making her one of the
wealthiest former slaves in the entire ex-Confederate states. As a
consequence, from the late 1860s to 1884 she became a routine figure at the
Robertson County District Court where she was sued numerous times by dozens
of litigants, including on one occasion her own lawyer.  She was the first
Texas freedwoman to be a party to a dozen lawsuits, to have three of them
appealed all the way to the state supreme court, and to be indicted on
criminal charges of perjury.  Took the wealthy white Hearne family a full
sixteen years to cheat Azeline out of her entire inheritance.

Those interested in African-American history, women's history, legal
history, and the period of the Civil War and Reconstruction will enjoy
Professor Baum's talk.

The presentation will be followed by a buffet reception.  If you plan to
attend the lecture and buffet, please R.S.V.P. to Dylan Davis at
executive.assistant at fulbright.or.kr
<mailto:executive.assistant at fulbright.or.kr>  so we can plan accordingly.
We hope many friends will come to enjoy the lecture, the discussion, and the
food.

Place: Fulbright Building
168-15 Yomni-dong, Mapo-gu
see maps on our website: www.fulbright.or.kr <http://www.fulbright.or.kr/>
Date: Friday, February 25, 2005
Time: 6:30 p.m.

Sincerely,

Jai Ok Shim
Executive Director
Korean American Educational Commission (Fulbright)




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