- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
- Summary:
- Part one. Footage of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund offices including that of civil rights attorney, professor, and NAACP director counsel Julius L. Chambers. Part two. Mr. Chambers discusses the origins of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, Jack Greenberg, important cases in fund history, the Keyes principle, and employment cases like Duke Power. Part three. Chambers recalls the most important civil rights case that grew out of his practice, Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education in the US Supreme Court, which became known as the busing case. He talks about current concerns of the fund, responding to Reagan administration challenges to civil rights, developing protection for the poor. Part four. Some 1987 fund work in cases dealing with discrimination against the poor. More footage of fund offices.
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- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A
- Summary:
- Part one. Mr. Lorin Thompson discusses the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, which in practice gave states the opportunity to close public schools in order to avoid desegregation. The Charlottesville schools closed in the fall of 1958, the teachers volunteered to teach in other venues. The crisis over school desegregation eventually became an important social, economic and moral issue. Mr. Thompson asserts that people should find an amenable solution and recognize the rights of all people. Thompson was the director of the Bureau of Population Economic Research at the University of Virginia which studied problems of urban development. Part two. Different camera angles.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A, Higginbotham, A. Leon (Aloyisus Leon), 1928-1998
- Summary:
- Part one. Civil rights attorney Louis Redding recalls his family, childhood, and going to Brown University. Part two. Mr. Redding tells his family’s history at Brown. After Harvard Law School, he returned to still segregated Delaware to practice law. Immediately, he tried to abolish separation based on race in courtrooms. He discussed the Parker case, its background, African American admission to University of Delaware, and Judge Collins Seitz. Part three. Redding says that he would not have filed the Parker case if he didn't know that Judge Collins Seitz would get the case. In Gebhart v. Belton, the public school case, Redding used testimony from psychology and sociology experts about how separate but equal was inherently detrimental to African American children. He also comments on Jack Greenberg, Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority, and the day the Brown v. Board of Education decision was announced. Part four. The day the Brown decision became public, Redding heard the news on the radio while driving and crashed into the car in front of him. Mr. Redding discusses the Burton case, Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, William Hastie, William Robert Ming. He also tells how John W. Davis, the lawyer defending separate but equal, wept during arguments in front of the Supreme Court in the Brown case. Part five. Charles Hamilton Houston. Advice to young lawyers. At 9:00 until end, still photos.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
- Summary:
- Part one. Historian William H. Harbaugh describes the irony of John W. Davis defending the separate but equal doctrine in Brown v. the Board of Education and explains why Davis took the case as its appellate lawyer. Harbaugh also comments on Thurgood Marshall's opinion of Davis. At 9:20 interview with engineer and business professor Louis T. Rader begins. Mr. Rader talks about his life and career, as well as his support of public education in the promotion of a successful business climate. During Massive Resistance, he protested closing Virginia public schools using the argument that businesses don't want to operate in a community with poor schooling. Part two. Mr. Rader recalls his support of public schooling in Virginia during Massive Resistance in order to sustain economic development within the commonwealth. At 5:30, interview with George R. Ferguson begins. Mr. Ferguson recounts the lawsuit brought by the Charlottesville NAACP to desegregate schools immediately following the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954. Court proceedings continued into 1958, when the judge assigned several black children to attend otherwise white schools in Charlottesville. The commonwealth then closed schools in Charlottesville under the policy of Massive Resistance. Mr. Ferguson describes how the Boatwright committee of the Virginia General Assembly harassed Charlottesville NAACP members.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
- Summary:
- Part one. Judge Matthew Perry recalls his service in the US Army during World War II in Europe. His travels overseas allowed him to participate in a society without segregation. He discusses his upbringing and education, especially the segregation of higher education institutions. He decided to be a lawyer after seeing Thurgood Marshall and Robert Carter try a case in Columbia, South Carolina concerning segregation in education. Part two. Judge Perry recounts the story of seeing Thurgood Marshall and Robert Carter try a case to desegregate South Carolina University Law School. Perry's own law school alma mater, South Carolina State College Law School, was established in response to the above case. He practiced law in South Carolina until his 1976 appointment to the federal judiciary serving on the United States Court of Military Appeals. During his private practice, he fought to desegregate grand juries. Part three. Judge Perry talks about the state of the New South. He discusses how the law was used to institutionalize racism in America. He notes that it was also the law that was used to defeat the system. He goes over the legal strategy he and his colleagues used to integrate colleges and graduate schools in South Carolina. He talks about Briggs v. Elliott, one of the Brown v. Board of Education cases. Part four. NAACP Legal Defense Fund and NAACP General Counsel provided money and expertise to small, local lawyers all over the South. Judge Perry remarks on Baker v. Carr and various sit-in and protest cases like Edwards v. South Carolina.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
- Summary:
- Part one. Civil rights activist Modjeska Simkins discusses her childhood in South Carolina and the influence of her grandmother, who was a slave. She tells vivid stories of her family's ordeals with slavery and post-Civil War freedom and discrimination. Part two. Ms. Simkins shares stories about her family's experience with racial discrimination. She talks about people using the Bible to support their prejudices and why she quit the church. She explains the power structure among rich white people, poor white people, and African Americans. She recalls when NAACP lawyers like Thurgood Marshall would come down to South Carolina to try a case and stay in her house because they couldn't stay in any hotels. She tells how African American schools didn't have buses or fuel for heat. Part three. Ms. Simkins talks about her education. She recalls encounters with the Ku Klux Klan and her fearless attitude toward the Klan. She returns to a discussion of the power structure in the South, both when she was a child and in 1985. She expresses her opinion of Robert Bork. Part four. Ms. Simkins talks about her work with the NAACP. She talks about the salary case, transportation case, and the vote case in South Carolina. Her home was the center of South Carolina civil rights legislation in a way because out-of-town African Americans could only stay in private homes. The militia was called out in South Carolina; she remembers cannons on Statehouse grounds. She chats about Judge J. Waites Waring and Thurgood Marshall.
- 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.
- 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, Kulish, Mykola
- Summary:
- Part one. History professor Jeff Norrell talks in Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham, Alabama, across the street from the 16th St. Baptist Church, about demonstrations there in 1963. He remarks on the children and student participants in the demonstrations and the confrontations between demonstrators and police in early May. He talks about what Birmingham is like in 1987, what the park and the church represent, and how downtown Birmingham has changed. Part two. Mr. Norrell recalls cases heard at the old Birmingham federal courthouse, like Steele v. Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company, and the Birmingham College case. He also talks about attorney Arthur Shores, the rise of African American political power in Birmingham, and voting rights cases from Birmingham. Part three. Mr. Norrell discusses the Confederate Flag on the Birmingham courthouse and what it represents to different people. Other topics include Gomillion v. Lightfoot, gerrymandering in Tuskegee, and the importance of Tuskegee. Footage of Birmingham. At 16:22, Reuben Davis footage begins. Mr. Davis speaks about living in Birmingham before and after desegregation and the New South.
- 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 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 Samuel Tucker reviews his education, his experiences as a young lawyer admitted to the bar in 1934, his service in the military as a young man, and his experience as one of the first black Civilian Conservation Corps officers. Mr. Tucker became involved in the civil rights struggle with the Alexandria Library Sit-in, and he gives the basics of this event and the subsequent court cases about it. The solution, to build a separate library for black people, was not satisfactory to Tucker. Part two. Mr. Tucker talks about his childhood education. He reviews the Petersburg Library case, as well as Baker v. Carr, Wright v. Rockefeller, and the Burnett case. He recounts the case he argued in front of the Supreme Court that had the most impact, Green v. New Kent County. He says that the second most important theme in civil rights cases is reapportionment. Another civil rights issue fought in the courts concerns criminal cases like Hampton v. the commonwealth, about the death penalty for rape used only on black men who raped white women. Part three. Mr. Tucker recalls the Martinsville Seven case, concerning death penalty cases where confessions were not voluntary and representation was not adequate. He discusses what local counsel means and the role of the local community lawyer.
- 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, Kulish, Mykola
- Summary:
- Part one. Shots of Beulah Johnson's Tuskegee house and neighborhood. At 3:40 change to William Elwood interviewing Mayor Johnny Ford outside Tuskegee municipal building about the impact of the Voting Rights Act, Gomillion v. Lightfoot case, Fred Gray, and being mayor for 15 years. At 12:05 change to Elwood interviewing civil rights attorney Solomon S. Seay, Jr., in Montgomery about Seay's background and education, his military service experience, and watching the top Brown v. Board of Education lawyers practice the case at Howard Law School. Part two. Seay recounts why he became a lawyer, his reaction to the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, what white leaders did in Montgomery to circumvent the Brown decision and keep schools segregated, and how both sides used the law to get what they want. Part three. Seay tells the history of the neighborhood of Madison Park in Montgomery and goes over cases he’s tried. Part four. Mr. Seay compares working on criminal cases to trying civil rights cases. He discusses Drake v. Covington County Board of Education, the Montgomery march, and voting rights. Disc 121. Footage of Seay's office, Montgomery outdoor scenes.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A, Norton, James A. (James Adolphus)
- Summary:
- Part one. Dr. Stephen Wright, former president of Fisk University and prominent educator, is presented by James "Dolph" Norton for the Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia. Dr. Wright delivers remarks concerning historically African American colleges and universities. He covers the emergence and growth of these schools. Part two. Dr. Wright says that the development of African American colleges in America has been influenced by seven events: publication of two Department of the Interior studies, "Negro Education" by Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones in 1917 and "Survey of Negro Colleges and Universities" by Arthur Klein in 1928; accrediting African American institutions in the South in 1930, which enabled African American collegians to enter graduate school programs; the US Supreme Court's Gaines decision of 1938; the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954; the Civil Rights Act of 1964; and the Adams v. Richardson case filed in 1970. Part three. Dr. Wright talks about public policy, student enrollment trends, and educational needs. He relates stories of African American educators' struggles for equal salaries in the 1930s in the South. The African American teachers made 50% of what white teachers did, with the same teaching certificate. Part four. Dr. Wright explains the effects of desegregation, especially concerning its impact on the fulfillment of the educational needs of African American students at traditionally African American schools. He addresses the special case of Berea College, which was integrated before Plessy v. Ferguson, and therefore had to be segregated after that court decision. It was reintegrated immediately after the Brown v. Board of Education decision. He talks about the influence of Myles Horton. Dr. Wright also discusses student financial aid programs and Rosenwald schools. Part five. Dr. Wright describes being an expert witness in desegregation cases in the South, especially Bulah v. Gebhart in Delaware, one of the cases combined to become Brown v. Board of Education. He evaluated the schools involved in the case and documented their differences. He also assisted NAACP Legal Defense Fund lawyers during cross examinations, as in the Durham, N.C., city schools case. At 12:45, footage of different camera angles of Dr. Wright with no sound. At 15:33, interview resumes with discussion of higher education. Part six. Dr. Wright advocates for strong general education curricula, especially at the college level. He also describes the functions of boards of education, student assessments, and testing.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A
- Summary:
- Part one. Dr. Walter Ridley discusses his experience at Howard University, Virginia State University, and the University of Virginia. When he was admitted to the University of Virginia in 1950, Colgate Darden stated that Dr. Ridley would have access to all university facilities. Dr. Ridley said that he did not feel out of place at the university and if people did not want him there, he was not aware of it. He also mentions Mordecai Johnson at Howard University, Carter Woodson, Charlie Thompson and George Ferguson. Part two. Dr. Ridley discusses his part in the integration of the African American Teachers Association with the white National Education Association. He recalls how the janitors and custodians at U.Va. told him they would protect him while he was a student there. Ridley was the first African American person to get a doctorate from a southern university. He recounts stories from his career in education. Part three. Dr. Ridley discusses his family and educational history. He comments on his time spent at the University of Virginia, the non-violent approach to obtaining civil rights, and the achievement of excellence.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
- Summary:
- Part one. After serving in World War II, Wiley Branton returned to discriminatory voter registration laws in his home state of Arkansas. He participated in voter education and was arrested and convicted (wrongfully) of rigging an election. This incident inspired him to go to law school. He participated in forcing the integration of University of Arkansas Law School in 1947. He describes Jim Crow professional schools in the South. Part two. Mr. Branton recalls the Moore v. Dempsey case from his childhood. Mr. Branton goes over a case he tried in eastern Arkansas called State of Arkansas v. Paul Lewis Beckwith. Mr. Branton discusses his childhood. He talks about desegregation in Arkansas and the education situation for African Americans at the time of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Interestingly, some eastern Arkansas school districts integrated immediately after Brown. Mr. Branton talks about his many legal actions to get Little Rock schools integrated. Part three. Mr. Branton describes the Little Rock Crisis and its legal aftermath. He remembers the Arkansas governor closing public schools after the Army left, an action that damaged the Arkansas economy. Mr. Branton discusses Charles Houston. Branton returns to his own experiences during the Little Rock Crisis: His family lived under armed guard for two years and crosses were burned at his family cemetery. Mr. Branton talks about his legal representation of Freedom Riders in Jackson, Mississippi. Part five. Mr. Branton discusses how bail was raised for Freedom Riders in Mississippi and Arkansas. Mr. Branton discusses the Voter Education Project, which he directed from 1962 to 1965. He tells about the project's programs to support small, local voter registration groups with money and advice on handling obstacles. He recalls registrars blocking African Americans from registering by administering outrageous tests. Mr. Branton reveals that he would let white sheriffs think he was white, too, when talking to them on the phone in order to get people out of jail.
- 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, Kulish, Mykola
- Summary:
- Part one. Footage of Monticello exterior. At 6:18, interview with history professor William H. Harbaugh at Monticello. Mr. Harbaugh talks about John W. Davis as the greatest appellate attorney and outlines Davis's career. Harbaugh discusses Davis's most famous cases, including his unsuccessful defense of the separate but equal doctrine in the Brown v. Board of Education cases. Part one. Harbaugh describes the irony of John W. Davis defending the separate but equal doctrine in Brown and explains why Davis took the case as its appellate lawyer. Harbaugh also comments on Thurgood Marshall's opinion of Davis. At 9:20 interview with engineer and business professor Louis T. Rader begins. Mr. Rader talks about his life and career, as well as his support of public education in the promotion of a successful business climate. During Massive Resistance, he protested closing Virginia public schools using the argument that businesses don't want to operate in a community with poor schooling.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
- Summary:
- Part one. Attorney and former Secretary of Transportation William Coleman reveals the story behind his clerkship appointment to Justice Frankfurter, what Frankfurter was like as a justice, and his experiences being a clerk at the Supreme Court. He discusses other justices, like Black, and their relationships with Frankfurter. Mr. Coleman declares it a tragedy that the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments did not protect African Americans. He says that Charles Houston, William Hastie, and Thurgood Marshall were the ones who plotted civil rights cases' winning strategy. Part two. Mr. Coleman regrets that the Houston, Hastie, Marshall strategy was not being taught in law schools in the 1980s. He proposes it's because most people still don't see African Americans as being intelligent, well-educated strategists. Mr. Coleman describes dealing with racism throughout his life and in the '80s. He talks about South Africa, the Bob Jones University case, and the counsel fee case. Part three. Mr. Coleman discusses the importance of Brown v. Board of Education, how law reflects changes in society, and the Constitution and the right to privacy. He says the Constitution was always supposed to grow, and not stay static. At 8:25 still of photos in Coleman's office.
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