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  • William A. Elwood Civil Rights Lawyers Project2

Start Over Date 1988 Collection William A. Elwood Civil Rights Lawyers Project

1. Interview with Genna Rae McNeil (1:44:08)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
Part one. Author Genna Rae McNeil offers insight on Charles Hamilton Houston's privileged upbringing, education, and early career. Houston served in the military during World War I, and the extreme discrimination therein inspired him to make civil rights his life's mission. McNeil covers Houston's experiences during the Red Summer of 1919, at Harvard Law School, and as a lawyer at his father's firm. Part two. McNeil describes Houston's belief that lawyers were social engineers with responsibility for improving society. She tells of Houston's professorship at Howard University Law School and his work to change the school from a night school to a traditional daytime degree program. Houston became involved with the NAACP and flirted with International Labor Defense, best known for publicizing the injustice of the Scottsboro case. Part three. Ms. McNeil talks about Houston's involvement with the International Labor Defense. Houston became the first paid lawyer for the NAACP, with the charge to direct a campaign against inequality in education and transportation. Houston crafted the legal strategy used to eliminate segregation. He understood that the justice system functioned in relation to its precedents. Ms. McNeil discusses Houston's travels in the South, especially his visits to rural African American schools. Houston made films of the differences between African American schools and white schools during his trips in order to document what "separate but equal" meant in the South. Part four. Ms. McNeil recounts Houston's involvement with African American railroad firemen and his contributions to activism in the fight for equality in the military, for fair employment practices, and for District of Columbia public schools. McNeil talks about the formation of the Consolidated Parents Group. Part five. Ms. McNeil emphasizes the importance of Houston's involvement in the Consolidated Parents Group. Houston fell ill and died while working with the CPG; he made arrangements for other lawyers to continue this work. McNeil offers her appraisal of Houston's philosophy of life and his commitment to principle. She gives her theory why Houston is not better known. Part six. McNeil continues her account of Houston's accomplishments, and she conjectures why we have forgotten about him.

2. Interview with Juanita Jackson Mitchell (1:36:21)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
Part one. Civil right attorney Juanita Mitchell gives a brief history of the life of Charles Hamilton Houston. She describes Houston's legal case to admit Donald Gaines Murray to the University of Maryland School of Law. Houston used the equal protection clause from the 14th amendment against states that did not admit African American students to their schools. Ms. Mitchell gives a vivid account of this court case. Houston encouraged Maryland lawyers like Mitchell to use the US Constitution to sue Jim Crow out of Maryland laws, which they did. Part two. Ms. Mitchell describes what it was like to be African American in the South during the era of Jim Crow. She recounts living in the African American ghetto in Baltimore during the 1930s. Ms. Mitchell, after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1931, worked for the NAACP. She recalls lynchings near Baltimore and how the NAACP tried to organize African American citizens to write to their government representatives to outlaw lynching. Part three. Ms. Mitchell remarks upon the inspiring character of Houston. She tells the story of W. Ashby Hawkins' successful legal argument in 1913 against Baltimore's new municipal segregation residential order, which was like Apartheid. She talks about the heroism of her mother, who served as president of the NAACP. She also talks about the civil rights work of her husband, Clarence Mitchell, especially concerning the Fair Employment Practice Committee. Part four. Because the NAACP could not get tax exempt status for work being done by lawyers, the Legal Defense Fund was started, with Thurgood Marshall at its helm. Ms. Mitchell remembers filing case after case in Maryland led by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. She recalls working with Robert Carter and Jack Greenberg. Ms. Mitchell got her law degree because Houston suggested she do so, and she was the first African American student to write for the law review at the University of Maryland School of Law. She describes what it was like in Baltimore during and after the Brown court case, especially on the day the decision was announced. Part five. Ms. Mitchell remembers the funeral of Houston in 1950. She gives her opinion of why people don't know about Houston. She believes that the civil rights movement really began with Africans jumping off slave ships.