- 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.
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- 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. 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, Kulish, Mykola, Hill, Oliver W., 1907-2007
- Summary:
- Part one. Civil rights attorney Oliver Hill and law professor A.E. Dick Howard discuss the Constitutional Revision Commission of Virginia in 1968 in front of the Capitol in Richmond. They go over Virginia Constitution history, including how the 1902 Constitution was written with the intent to discriminate against African Americans. Mr. Hill speaks about Massive Resistance, and Mr. Howard comments on awkward interpretations of the Virginia Constitution that let public schools close to avoid integration in the 1950s. The 1968 Virginia Constitution finally included an antidiscrimination clause. Mr. Hill and Mr. Howard relate the reasons why they went into constitutional law. Part two. Continuation of discussion about the 1968 Constitutional Revision Commission of Virginia.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
- Summary:
- Part one. Journalist Brandy Ayers describes the Willie Brewster murder trial, which featured the shooting of indicted killer Damon Strange by Jimmy Glenn Knight in the courthouse during the grand jury hearing. He also discusses how the jury commission worked in Alabama. Part two. Mr. Ayers calls for a new style of politics wherein all factions come together for total mobilization. He believes that the American dream is not real for African Americans.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A
- Summary:
- Footage of Tuskegee, Alabama. At 10:55, William Elwood interviews Allan Parker in his yard. Parker was a banker in Tuskegee who fought for desegregation and voter registration. Parker describes his involvement with the Tuskegee Civic Association. He wanted to preserve the public school system for all races and didn't support private white schools. Parker also discusses the role of lawyers in the civil rights movement.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A, Morgan, Charles, 1930-2009, Kulish, Mykola
- Summary:
- Part one. Attorney Charles Morgan and US Congressman John Lewis discuss many topics, including: Alabama legally disenfranchising African Americans with voting registration requirements like the poll tax and literacy tests; Reynolds v. Sims, the one-man, one-vote case; Bull Connor; Lewis being jailed because he was with an interracial group using public transportation; Lewis being beaten in Montgomery; Freedom Rides; the voter registration drive; Brown v. Board of Education; the importance of the Christian Church, the one place where African Americans could have control; Lewis meeting Dr. King and Rev. Abernathy. Part two. Morgan and Lewis continue their conversation, agreeing that in spite of symbols like the Confederate Flag flying over the Alabama Capitol, things are better because African Americans are allowed into positions of power. They discuss the racism deeply embedded in American society, as well as the most important aspect of the civil rights movement, its law-based nonviolence. Lewis recalls his involvement in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the difficulties he had meeting with white activists like Morgan because it was against the law. Part three. Morgan and Lewis describe the 1960s civil rights movement as a family, especially on the inside, and its informal, organic progress. They say that historians ignore Charles Hamilton Houston because they are ignorant of much of history. They review Sweatt v. Painter. Part four. Morgan and Lewis remark upon Charles Houston and suggest that integration is still, in the 1980s, in the embryonic stage. Lewis reminisces about the Sears and Roebuck catalog being his wish book as a child; he wanted to buy incubator to have chickens because he used to preach to the family's chickens. The two men talk about the Voter Education Project and the vote as a tool of liberation. They say that voter registration really did work because white politicians started speaking to African Americans and, at low levels of government, African Americans were starting to get elected. Part five. The relationship between Lewis and Morgan is discussed. Footage of Lewis walking to Capitol building to cast vote, then exiting the Capitol building after vote. Footage of Congressional office building.h
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
- Summary:
- Part one. Footage of Charlottesville house at 407 Ridge Street. At 1:00, interview with Frances Brand in her art gallery in Charlottesville. She describes her series of paintings, called "Firsts," as a tribute to important individuals within the Charlottesville community, especially people she considered exemplars of civil rights advocacy. She remembers her subjects and their achievements. At 13:30, discussion with three Charlottesville city school board members. One, Henry Mitchell, was a part of the NAACP's 1956 lawsuit to desegregate Charlottesville schools. He describes the aftermath of the desegregation ruling and the commonwealth's policy of Massive Resistance. Part two. Three members of the Charlottesville city school board, including Grace Tinsley, Henry Mitchell, and Clifford Bennett, discuss present day (1987) problems in Charlottesville city schools, especially concerning African American student self-image. At 15:10, footage of paintings of Charlottesville notables by Frances Brand. Part three. Grace Tinsley, Henry Mitchell, and Clifford Bennett recall the history of the Charlottesville city school board and the changes in race relations over the years.
- 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.
- Date:
- 2006
- Main contributors:
- Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
- Summary:
- Part one. Civil rights attorney Charles Morgan remembers Freedom Summer of 1964 and recalls hearing when Chaney, Schwerner, and Goodman were missing. Mr. Morgan says that the system of justice in the South did not work against African American individuals, it worked against all African Americans as a group. He explains how all parts of justice system work together and how public interest lawyers succeeded in changing the law on jury cases in the South. Part two. Mr. Morgan believes that you must integrate colors, creeds, cultures etc., or change and understanding will never happen. Mr. Morgan points out that there were no African American prisons in the South before the Civil War because all African Americans were imprisoned [by slavery]. The civil rights movement was a revolution in the sense that it changed the entire structure of law and altered much of American life. Voter registration wasn't the law until around 1900, and America still hasn't recovered from the fact that fewer people vote because of it. Part three. Mr. Morgan reviews the history of the impact of slavery, segregation, and population centers. Southern legislatures around 1900 were not based on population, and cities were underrepresented. Mr. Morgan talks about Baker v. Carr, Reynolds v. Sims, Gray v. Sanders. Sims was about reapportioning the Alabama state legislature, and Sanders was about reapportioning the congressional districts, where the phrase "one person, one vote" was first used. Television helped to confront all Americans with the problems of the South. Part four. Morgan quotes Congressman John Lewis, "Whatever happened to the civil rights movement? It got elected." Lewis suffered 40 arrests and multiple skull fractures. At 2:48, footage of Washington, DC.