Start Over Main contributor Elwood, William A Date 1985

1. Interview with Calvin C. Green (1:09:38)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A
Summary:
Part one. Mr. Green was a public school teacher in Richmond at Jefferson Huguenot Wythe High School and also pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Saluda, Virginia. One of the most important cases in civil rights law decided by the US Supreme Court carries his name, Green v. County School Board of New Kent County. Green discusses why the case became notable, the background leading up to the case. Part two. The Green case was about the freedom of choice policy put forth by New Kent School Board. Mr. Green tells how it was not really freedom of choice because there were all kinds conditions and outcomes; for example, when the school board was forced to integrate schools, they closed all the African American schools and laid off all the African American administrators. Part three. Mr. Green tells about his childhood and then more about the Supreme Court case. In reality, Mr. Green says, schools were not integrated after Brown in 1954, but all schools had to be integrated after Green in 1968. Green was also a very significant case because the Supreme Court made the county school district pay legal fees.

2. Interview with Charles G. Gomillion (1:48:53)

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.

3. Interview with Charles Todd Duncan (42:13)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A
Summary:
Part one. Civil rights attorney Charles Todd Duncan discusses his involvement with the Brown v. Board of Education cases when he worked in the law office of Frank D. Reeves. He did much research on the history of African American codes. He was straight out of law school and was mainly a helper and errand-runner on the case, but he likes to remember that he was the one who personally physically filed the Brown case at the US Supreme Court. He mentions Charles Black. Mr. Duncan talks about Brown's impact, as well as what it didn't affect. Part two. Mr. Duncan helped out on the Brown case at the New York City NAACP Legal Defense Fund offices. He participated in strategy and decision-making sessions there and describes what these sessions were like. He recounts how the five Brown cases were chosen to take to the Supreme Court for very specific reasons.

4. Interview with E. Frederic Morrow (1:51:09)

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.

5. Interview with Earl B. Dickerson (2:12:55)

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.

6. Interview with Edward Mazique (2:10:16)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A
Summary:
Part one. Charles Houston's physician Dr. Edward Mazique discusses the state of medical care in 1985, the problems with malpractice insurance, and his involvement with medical political action committees in lobbying Congress. He also talks about his Mississippi accent, leaving Mississippi at 17, his time at Morehouse College, and being poor. Part two. Dr. Mazique recounts how he became a physician and tell stories about Morehouse College and his early economic troubles. He mentions Howard Thurman. Part three. Dr. Mazique talks about the survival skills of African Americans. He recalls being Charles Houston's physician and friend; and Houston was his lawyer. Part four. Dr. Mazique recounts how Houston inspired him into political action. Dr. Mazique recalls the state of health care for African Americans during civil rights era; he talks about what it was like for African American physicians. He mentions Paul Robeson and Jackie Robinson. Dr. Mazique was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and Houston got him excused from testifying. Part five. Mazique relates what motivated Houston and talks about Houston's death. Dr. Mazique discusses his relationship as godfather to Houston's son. Part six. Dr. Mazique talks about Houston and how people felt about him. He recalls Houston's work as a lawyer in areas other than separate but equal civil rights cases. Houston lived with Dr. Mazique in 1949 because of his health, and Dr. Mazique had him make an audiotape. Dr. Mazique recalls discussing the Scottsboro case and its international renown. Houston believed far-reaching publicity was important to the civil rights struggle.

7. Interview with F. Palmer Weber (3:01:26)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A
Summary:
Part one. Civil rights activist Palmer Weber asserts that there were three prongs to the attack on systemic segregation in the South: jobs, education, and suffrage. He speaks of his association with A. Philip Randolph and how Randolph set about conquering segregation in labor. He credits Charles Houston with the strategy of attacking segregation in education, via court cases. Weber talks about his election to the national board of the NAACP. He mentions the work of Mary McCleod Bethune, Ralph Bunche, and Mordecai Johnson. Part two. Mr. Weber discusses lawyer Oliver Hill, writer Nancy Cunard, Jack Graveley of the NAACP, Dr. J.M. Tinsley, and Professor Duncan Clark Hyde. Weber elaborates on his work for the Fair Employment Practices Commission. He credits World War II for advancing the NAACP's attack on the segregation system and swelling its membership. In terms of civil rights progress, the NAACP’s struggle to get the Armed Forces desegregated was as great as Charles Houston’s endeavors in education. He also says that Philip Randolph's accomplishments in labor are as important as Houston's for education; and Martin Luther King Jr. built on the work of all of these men, but transcended them by urging African American clergy to action. Weber also talks about Walter White and his rifts with Paul Robeson and W.E.B. Dubois. Part three. Mr. Weber discusses Walter White and his impact on the civil rights struggle, especially White’s study of lynchings in the South. Other people discussed are Mary McCleod Bethune, Ralph Bunche, Lucy Randolph Mason, Eleanor Roosevelt, Tom Clark, Thurgood Marshall, and Earl Warren.

8. Interview with Gardner L. Bishop (1:46:17)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A
Summary:
Part one. Civil rights activist Gardner Bishop talks about his involvement with the Consolidated Parents Group. He relates that the group first met to discuss the atrocious school facilities in African American neighborhoods. At his suggestion, the group embarked on a school strike to embarrass the white school board. Mr. Bishop relates the details of the school strike saga. Part two. Mr. Bishop introduced himself to Charles Houston in order to enlist his help. Houston became the group's lawyer, ended the strike, and led the group into legal action. As the Consolidated Parents Group became organized, they needed publicity for their legal cases, and so provoked arrests by swimming in a public pool. Mr. Bishop recounts Houston's unexpected illness. Part three. Mr. Bishop tells the story of being arrested for playing with his daughter in a white playground. He describes his philosophy of life. Part four. Mr. Bishop discusses his philosophy of life. He recalls Houston asking him how "common" African Americans felt about various issues. Bishop mentions Dorothy Porter and Herbert Reid. Part five. Mr. Bishop talks about James Nabrit helming the Consolidated Parents Group case after Houston's death. Mr. Bishop recalls provoking the case by escorting an African American student to a white junior high school. He also recounts the story of advising the US Secretary of the Interior about the swimming pool case. At 19:00, we see William Elwood at the Rotunda talking to the camera, not filmed in December.

9. Interview with George R. Ferguson (20:15)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
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.

10. Interview with George R. Ferguson (2:54:57)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A
Summary:
Part one. George Ferguson recalls his experiences in the aftermath of the Brown v. Board of Education decision as president of the Charlottesville NAACP, as plaintiff and witness in the local suit to admit African American students to public schools, and as a father and husband dealing with the effects of discrimination on his family. Ferguson first mentions the educational workshops in 1958 organized by the NAACP and June Shagaloff. He discusses events of 1955 when African American parents applied to have their children attend desegregated schools. His daughter Olivia and another student, John Martin, were assigned to Venable/Lane schools by Judge John Paul of the US District Court Fourth Circuit. Ferguson recounts intimidation and harassment of the NAACP by the Boatwright committee of Virginia's General Assembly through to 1960. He talks about the lawyers who represented the Charlottesville parents in their class action suit, Oliver Hill, Spotswood Robinson, and Samuel Tucker, and why the trial was held in Harrisonburg instead of Charlottesville. Part two. Mr. Ferguson tells of experiences with discrimination and harassment throughout his life and during the school desegregation case in Charlottesville. He briefly discusses race relations in 1985. On parts three and four, different camera angles.