In Memoriam: James Lowell Underwood

by guest author Rebekah Maxwell

In Memoriam

Professor James Lowell Underwood

October 29, 1937 – January 8, 2022

headshot of man in suit with glasses

The University of South Carolina School of Law Library mourns the passing and celebrates the life of Professor James Lowell Underwood. Professor Underwood was a lifelong scholar and prolific author, and the law library is proud to have assisted him with research for many of his works. Professor Underwood was a meticulous researcher and generous author. He never placed a law review article without sending a box of photocopies of all of his sources.

bookshelf on 1st floor of law library, with photo of Prof. Underwood in the center, surrounded by books and journals

This display offers but a sliver of Professor Underwood’s scholarship, which includes the definitive treatise The Constitution of South Carolina and Deadly Censorship : Murder, Honor, and Freedom of the Press. With Professor Lewis Burke, he co-edited The Dawn of Religious Freedom in South Carolina and At Freedom’s Door: African American Founding Fathers and Lawyers in Reconstruction South Carolina. Professor Underwood’s body of work creates an enduring legacy and an inspiration for legal scholars present and future.