Harlan County.

So Somebodyisfromehere.com goes to law school and anybody that goes to that kind of institution has to learn about the Constitution. When studying that subject the names Harlan becomes pretty significant. Two Harlans served in the Supreme Court (1877-1911, 1955 -1971).

The earlier Harlan was known as the great dissenter. Wiki describes:

As the Court moved away from interpreting the Reconstruction Amendments to protect Black Americans, Harlan wrote several eloquent dissents in support of equal rights for Black Americans and racial equality. In the Civil Rights Cases (1883), the Supreme Court struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875, holding that the act exceeded Congressional powers. Harlan alone dissented, vigorously, charging that the majority had subverted the Reconstruction Amendments: “The substance and spirit of the recent amendments of the constitution have been sacrificed by a subtle and ingenious verbal criticism.” Harlan also dissented in Giles v. Harris (1903), a case challenging the use of grandfather clauses to restrict voting rolls and de facto exclude blacks.As the Court moved away from interpreting the Reconstruction Amendments to protect Black Americans, Harlan wrote several eloquent dissents in support of equal rights for Black Americans and racial equality.

In the last three months Somebodyisfromehere.com has become an uncle three times over (two of them were twins). It’s that kind of mindset that while in class and when learning about Harlan’s ahead-of-his-time policies that Somebodyisfromhere.com would think, hell, Harlan would be a pretty good name for a child. It’s unique, it’s pronounceable, and, hell, it’s sort of political without being in your face.  Or, at the very least, it could be like a random name for a character in a heretofore unwritten book.

Anyway. Then Somebodyisfromhere.com’s teacher explains a little bit further. He’s like, yeah, how Harlan treated blacks is great. Then he goes on. He says but it’s unfortunate that the textbook cut out the rest of his opinion. His opinion was basically, blacks deserve equal treatment because the Asians already get it and the blacks are not as bad as the Asians (Somebodyisfromhere.com thinks this this website verifies this. If not let him know).

So, after all, maybe Somebodisfromhere.com isn’t sure what he would want to name small children.

Nevertheless, Somebodyisfromhere.com likes the show Justified. He knows the show takes place in Harlan County Kentucky. Furthermore, he knows the Supreme Court representatives were from Kentucky.

There has to be a correlation there, no?  Wiki explains, “It is named after Silas Harlan. A pioneer, he was born on March 17, 1753 in Berkeley County, West Virginia (when it was still part of Virginia), the son of George and Ann (Hurst) Harlan. Journeying to Kentucky as a young man with James Harrod in 1774, Harlan served as scout, hunter, and held the rank of Major in the Continental Army. Harlan assisted Harrod’s party in Harrodsburg to deliver gunpowder to settlers in Kentucky, and to assist them against the British in the Revolutionary War.”

It’s worth mentioning, if you are going to write a book, you could do a lot worse than naming your bad guy “Silas.”

Somebodyisfromhere.com knows what you are thinking, though. More Supreme Court references!

Silas Harlan died leading the advance party at the Battle of Blue Licks on August 19, 1782. At the time of his death, Harlan was engaged to Sarah Caldwell, who later married his brother James and was the grandmother of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan.

But what about the show? Is it really as Wild Wild West as the show depicts? Well in one respect they are kind of wimpy.

With regard to the sale of alcohol, it is classified as a moist county—a county in which alcohol sales are prohibited (a dry county), but containing a “wet” city, in this case Cumberland, where package alcohol sales are allowed.In Harlan City, restaurants seating 100+ may serve alcoholic beverages.

The show’s violent identity might also associate itself with this:

Violent confrontations among strikers, strikebreakers, mine company security forces and law enforcement in the 1930s led to the county being referred to as “Bloody Harlan County” for several years. After the Battle of Evarts, May 5, 1931, the governor of Kentucky called in the National Guard to restore order. The county was the subject of the film Harlan County, USA(1976), which documented strikes and organizing during a second major period of labor unrest in the 1970s.

Well, Somebodisfromhere.com hopes you learned a lot tonight. He is not sure if he did.