- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A
- Summary:
- Part one. Civil rights attorney Oliver Hill recounts his childhood in Roanoke. High schools for African Americans there were at least 100 miles away, so he moved to Washington DC to go to Dunbar High School. He recalls knowing Charles Houston in the early 1930s while at Howard Law School. Hill discusses the difference between desegregation and integration. Part two. Mr. Hill examines his first civil rights cases, the most important being Alston v. School Board of the City of Norfolk. He discusses the differences between trying a case in front of Virginia federal court and Virginia state court. Part three. Mr. Hill explains the civil rights court case strategy to force the “separate but equal” doctrine to be observed, which would be expensive and difficult, so the only reasonable alternative would be to integrate. Mr. Hill observes that it was essential to eliminate the disparity between African American and white teacher salaries because the South needed to retain good teachers. He won the Alston case then went off to World War II. He describes what segregation in the Army was like. He also discusses taking the Morgan v. Virginia case, which was based on federal interstate transportation law, to the US Supreme Court. Part four. Mr. Hill thinks that the war retarded the growth of the civil rights movement. He recalls the Tunstall case concerning traditional African American railway jobs as firemen. He was also involved in one of the five court cases that led to Brown v. Board of Education, the Prince Edward County case, chiefly concerning equal education facilities. He talks about the judges involved in Prince Edward case. Part five. Mr. Hill continues to discuss the judges involved in the Prince Edward case, including Judge Sterling Hutcheson. Mr. Hill explains that 10 years after the Brown decision there was no integration in Prince Edward County because the Supreme Court didn't order desegregation. Hill points to Harry Byrd as the chief antagonizer in Massive Resistance; Hill says that if Harry Byrd hadn't opposed the Brown decision, integration would have happened much sooner in Virginia. Part six. A message to young people from Oliver Hill: we have to stop thinking of ourselves as colors or ethnicities or nationalities and start thinking of ourselves and each other as humans. Interview ends at seven minutes. Footage of Old Dominion Bar Association convention begins at 7:10, conversations among bar members and William Elwood, chiefly concerning Samuel Tucker.
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- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A
- Summary:
- Part one. Pictures inside and outside the Supreme Life Insurance Company in Chicago. At 11:26, Elwood interviews civil rights attorney Earl Dickerson in Dickerson's home in Chicago. Part two. Mr. Dickerson discusses his involvement with the National Lawyers Guild, the Smith Act and the Communist 11, and the Fair Employment Practices Committee. Part three. Mr. Dickerson recounts his association with the civil rights commission under President Truman. He also discusses being president of the National Bar Association. He talks about the Fair Employment Practices Committee during the early 1940s, his meetings with President Franklin Roosevelt concerning FEPC, not being invited back to serve on the FEPC, and his dealings in Birmingham as part of the FEPC. Part four. Mr. Dickerson talks more about the FEPC checking on Birmingham businesses. While president of the National Lawyers Guild during the 1950s, Mr. Dickerson had a run-in with Atty. Gen. Brownell. Mr. Dickerson also talks about knowing Charles Houston. Part five. Mr. Dickerson reminisces about Paul Robeson, W.E.B. DuBois, the March on Washington in 1963, entertaining Martin Luther King Jr. at his home when King came to Chicago, and his peacemaking lunch with Elijah Muhammed, Philip Randolph, and Malcolm X. Part six. Mr. Dickerson describes the use of covenants to restrict African Americans from moving into white neighborhoods. It was his part of the Hansberry v. Lee case to prove racially restrictive covenants were unconstitutional. He also talks about the Squib case, his ideological influences, and his favorite literature. Part seven. Mr. Dickerson recalls how he went from Mississippi to Chicago as a lawyer and his inspiration to cure the defects of society. At 10:15, photos from Dickerson's life with some commentary.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A
- Summary:
- Part one. Civil rights activist and professor Charles Gomillion attended and then taught at the Tuskegee Institute from 1928 to 1971. He talks about his year at Fisk University doing field research with Dr. Charles S. Johnson concerning Southern farmers and New Deal programs. He mentions Dr. Albion W. Small, Franklin Frazier, and Bertrand Doyle. Mr. Gomillion recounts his childhood and education in South Carolina. Part two. Mr. Gomillion discusses why he dropped out of Paine College and then why he went back. Through the Tuskegee Men's Club/Tuskegee Civic Association for community service, he became interested in voting rights. In order to register to vote, African Americans had to get white people to vouch for them in person at the courthouse, and then they had to pay back poll taxes for any years in which they didn't vote. Part three. Mr. Gomillion discusses voter registration in Macon County, Alabama and Alabama Gov. James Fulsom. He talks about the legal action regarding election practices and voter registration there, as well as the lawsuit that went to the US Supreme Court in 1960. Part four. Mr. Gomillion praises Tuskegee Veterans Hospital employees for funding the gerrymandering lawsuits of Macon County. Mr. Gomillion mentions attorney Fred Gray. Mr. Gomillion talks more about his year of field research in Mississippi for Fisk University and how dangerous it was. Part five. Mr. Gomillion talks about his interactions with white people. He believes his major contribution in life was in the enlightenment of his students.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola, Freeman, Anne Hobson, 1934-
- Summary:
- Part one. Civil rights attorneys Oliver Hill and S.W. Tucker discuss the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, including the meaning of "with all deliberate speed." They remark upon how long it took to desegregate schools. They comment on the policies of Senator Harry Byrd and President Dwight Eisenhower. Mr. Hill talks about his service in the military during World War II. Mr. Tucker also served, and he relates stories about how Jim Crow worked in the military. Discs two to five. Mr. Tucker and Mr. Hill recount stories of life under Jim Crow, including experiences with seating on trains and other forms of transportation, service at restaurants, taking the bar exam, race riots, and trying to reserve a bridal suite on a honeymoon. They also tell the story of Dr. Charles Drew. Part six. Mr. Hill reviews Virginia's policy of Massive Resistance, the General Assembly's Boatwright committee and Thompson committee, Virginia courts and judges, and the people placement board. At 11:20, Anne Hobson Freeman talks about her new book on the law firm of Hunton and Williams in Richmond. The firm represented the school board of Prince Edward County in 1951 when students there sued the district for integration.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A
- Summary:
- Part one. Civil rights attorney Robert Carter recalls his childhood, his education, Howard Law School, and Charles Hamilton Houston. He says that he wasn't seriously confronted by racial discrimination until he went into the Army. Part two. Mr. Carter names three of his most important cases before the US Supreme Court: McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, Brown v. Board of Education, and NAACP v. Alabama. He says that Brown is important because it implied that African Americans were equal to whites in all walks of life, and it gave African Americans a feeling of freedom like they never had before. NAACP v. Alabama is important because it made use of the First Amendment in a civil rights argument. Gomillion v. Lightfoot led to Baker v. Carr. He recalls it was his idea to use psychologists to show that segregated education was detrimental to African Americans, and the Prince Edward County case was the first time a state tried to counter this argument. Part three. Mr. Carter discusses the Prince Edward County case. He says that Virginia and North Carolina were the most vigorous in their legal defense in civil rights cases. Carter used local Virginia lawyers to sustain the cases the NAACP had going (Spotswood Robinson, Oliver Hill, Samuel Tucker). He also talks about the NAACP v. Button case. He gives advice to young people. Part four. More about young people; still pictures of Carter; New York CIty footage.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A
- Summary:
- Part one. Civil rights attorney Samuel Wilbert Tucker argues that the Brown v. Board of Education decision didn't mandate immediate desegregation, so it took years of court cases make it happen slowly. He also discusses civil rights in 1985. At 7:00 there is footage of brothers Samuel and Otto Wilbert visiting the Alexandria Library. At 9:50, interview with William Evans begins. There is no sound until 11:54. Evans discusses his participation in the 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-In. Part two. Civil rights activist William Evans recounts the 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-In, details of the circumstances, the hearings, and the other men involved.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A
- Summary:
- Part one. Civil rights attorney Samuel Wilbert Tucker recites lyrics to an unknown song and talks about patriotism. At 13:30, Tucker and Elwood go for a walk. Part two. Stills of Tucker family photographs. Interview begins at 7:30 in Tucker's law office in Alexandria, VA. Subjects of discussion include Tucker's mother and father and Parker Grey school alumni. Part three. Tucker talks about his own education, his elementary school teachers, especially teacher Rozier D. Lyles and the naming of the Lyles Crouch elementary school. Mr. Tucker started the program for adult night classes at the Parker Grey elementary school.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A
- Summary:
- Part one. Civil rights attorney Herbert Reid recalls his childhood in Wilson, North Carolina, and his family. He remembers hearing Charles Houston speak at his high school. His parents were involved in the formation of an NAACP chapter in Wilson, and Walter White stayed at his house when he was a little boy. He mentions Roscoe Pound's influence on Houston, but he asserts that Houston formed his own ideas of the function of the law and the social order. At Howard Law School, students and faculty called these ideas the Houstonian school of jurisprudence. Part two. Mr. Reid arrived at Howard Law School in 1947, when the whole school was immersed in preparing civil rights cases. He says that the early planning and pleadings in the Brown v. Board of Education cases involved work by both students and faculty. Mr. Reid worked on Bolling v. Sharpe with James Nabrit. He also worked on covenant cases. Mr. Reid discusses his work on Hobson v. Hansen concerning equal facilities and disparate treatment in 1967. He also mentions Powell v. McCormack. Part three. Mr. Reid talks about his student Governor Douglas Wilder and his client Mayor Marion Barry. He talks about his involvement with the Consolidated Parents Group in DC. Mr. Reid believes that enforcing equal rights helps our democracy become accepted overseas. He also states that the effects of deprivation during the separate but equal era continue to plague the African American community.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A
- Summary:
- Part one. Civil rights attorney Samuel Wilbert Tucker recalls the Negro national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and the song, “We Fought Every Race’s Battle But Our Own.” Poor picture quality begins 4:00. Tucker talks about attending a meeting of civil rights attorneys from across the country in Atlanta, Georgia right after the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Tucker recounts becoming a lawyer and why he chose that profession. He never went to law school but passed the bar at age 20. Part two. Tucker discusses his first cases, particularly a murder case. He then goes into detail about his pivotal involvement in the 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-In and its outcome. Part three. Mr. Tucker's brother, Otto, joins the interview. They talk about the library sit-in and the consequent court cases. Part four. Samuel Tucker recalls Charles Houston counseling him about the library sit-in case. Mr. Tucker also imparts advice to young law students. Part five. Tucker argues that the Brown v. Board of Education decision didn't mandate immediate desegregation, so it took years of court cases make it happen slowly. He also discusses civil rights in 1985. At 7:00 there is footage of brothers Samuel and Otto Wilbert visiting the Alexandria Library. At 9:50, interview with William Evans begins. There is no sound until 11:54. Evans discusses his participation in the 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-In.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A
- Summary:
- Part one. Former White House executive and civil rights attorney Frederic Morrow contends that World War II triggered increased interest in civil rights among African Americans because they were defending a way of life that they could not enjoy. Mr. Morrow recalls his 1957 trip to Africa with Vice President Richard Nixon; he remembers African nations appointing white ambassadors to the United States because African Americans were discriminated against in the US State Department. Mr. Morrow says that President Eisenhower was a decent man, but his philosophy on race was incorrect. Mr. Morrow reviews his childhood in New Jersey, what it was like in the military during World War II, and his position as the first African American in history to be on the President's staff at the White House. Part two. Mr. Morrow tells how he became the first African American executive in the White House in the 1950s. He had to struggle and jump through many hoops to get a position there. Many top White House staffers said they would walk out if Mr. Morrow served with them. Part three. Mr. Morrow says that the civil rights struggle continues, especially on the economic side and with education. He declares, "We don't need new laws, we don't need new principles, we just have to live by them and do our duty.” Part four. Mr. Morrow recalls knowing Charles Hamilton Houston during the 1930s when he worked with NAACP. He believes that Houston was the foundation of the civil rights struggle. Mr. Morrow recounts his work as an NAACP field reporter. Part five. Mr. Morrow wrote a book called '40 Years a Guinea Pig'. He recalls civil rights supporters being critical of him because they thought he wasn't loudly advocating for civil rights while he worked at the White House. He acknowledges that he was asked to be the head of the Bank of America because their branches were being burned, and they needed an African American face to smooth things over. Mr. Morrow talks about his childhood and his grandfather, who was a slave. Part six. Mr. Morrow tells the remarkable story of how he got into Bowdoin College. He offers a message to young people.
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