151. Historical Practices, 1999 – 2013 (1:18:13)

Date:
2013-09-23
Main contributors:
Gissen, David
Summary:
"In this talk I will examine the idea of historical practices such as reconstruction, archiving, reenactment, and counter factual history (among others) within the context of architecture and landscape. Rather than simply forms of historical realism, I see these practices as possible techniques of agitation, speculation, and provocation in contemporary architectural practice. I'll briefly examine these practices in a few iconic examples from the history of architecture. Following this, I’ll discuss ideas of historical practices through a series of my own projects. My own work tends to further entangle the above forms of historical practice with socio-natural themes, the history of degraded environments, the history of urban radicalism, and the concerns of a future, liberatory mode of subjectivity." Dean's Forum Lecture, Campbell Hall

154. How can I meet you? Knowing each other through poetry and medicine (56:12)

Date:
2017-11-08
Main contributors:
University of Virginia. School of Medicine
Summary:
We live in times when empathy—the ability to imagine how it feels to be inside the skin of another—seems to be in short supply. As a writer of poetry and memoir, Mark Doty believes that literature is one of the most powerful tools we have to come close to the subjectivity of another person. The practice of medicine, too, is a work of knowing—of learning who someone is, what they need, and how they might be healed. In this Medical Center Hour, Mr. Doty explores these ideas through writings that grew out of the crisis years of the AIDS epidemic in this country and in recent work concerned with love, time, and citizenship in the human community. A John F. Anderson Memorial Lecture Co-presented with the Creative Writing Program, Department of English

162. Improving patient-physician communication about end-of-life care, is Virginia ready for POST? (1:02:34)

Date:
2012-10-17
Main contributors:
University of Virginia. School of Medicine
Summary:
Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment (POST) is an initiative gaining acceptance across the country as a way for patients and families to ensure that care at the end of life is not only consistent with a patient's preferences, as expressed in a treating physician's orders, but also is consistent throughout the health care system, including across institutional boundaries. A completed POST form is an instrument that travels with the patient from one health care setting to another, as, for instance, from a nursing home to a hospital, and should be honored in all venues. Unlike traditional advance directives, POST is a physician's order, and is to be followed as such. Implementing POST is a process being handled state by state, with Oregon in the lead. In Virginia, pilot studies are underway in different regions of the Commonwealth and different hospital systems, with different forms and protocols. What's happening with POST in Central Virginia and at UVA? Are all of us-patients, physicians and other clinicians, and administrators alike-ready for POST? A John F. Anderson Memorial Lecture Co-presented with the UVA Medical Center's Office of Patient/Family Education and Communication and the Compassionate Care Initiative, School of Nursing

163. In the name of pain, pain and the stigma of disability (1:01:12)

Date:
2013-10-16
Main contributors:
University of Virginia. School of Medicine
Summary:
What would it mean to name pain not as alien to human existence but as one of the defining conditions of being human? In this presentation, three experts--in disability studies, bioethics, and the cultural study of pain and pain medicine--consider our complicated attitudes toward pain, especially as we regard it in others. A John F. Anderson Memorial Lecture

164. Instructions for using the Fairchild recording machine (04:14)

Date:
Summary:
Instructions for how to operate the Fairchild machine, used to record aluminum transcription discs. This was recorded at the Fairchild manufacturer's studio by the African-American linguist Lorenzo Dow Turner, with whom A.K. Davis, Jr. had corresponded about his work using the Fairchild machine for his fieldwork.

165. Interview with A. E. Dick Howard and Oliver W. Hill (22:21)

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.

166. Interview with A. Leon Higginbotham (1:25:44)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
Part one. Judge Higginbotham asserts that the United States Constitution was not revelant to African Americans when it was written except to further enslave them. Judge Higginbotham offers a legal history of the colonies and slavery. Slavery was not codified until 1660, Virginia was the mother of slavery, and Virginia law in the early 1800s made it illegal to teach African Americans to read and write. Judge Higginbotham talks about Charles Coatsworth Pinckney, Judge Ruffin, and how America's success was only possible via slave labor. Part two. Judge Higginbotham's history lesson continues. The 14th amendment was intended to take racism out of American society via due process, but it became the primary instrument to help corporations and everyone else but African Americans. Plessy v. Ferguson codified the separate but equal doctrine, which extended discrimination from trains to just about everywhere else, as the Supreme Court had said it was “reasonable” to do so. The warped interpretation of the 14th amendment impacted women as well. The US Constitution was also originally meaningless to women. Higginbotham discusses Justice Harlan's dissent in Plessy. Part three. Judge Higginbotham explains that Brown v. Board of Education was brought about by earlier cases. Brown was the ninth inning victory compared to all the work that had gone before in civil rights, including Gaines v. Missouri, Sweatt v. Painter, and McLaurin v. Oklahoma. Higginbotham discusses Collins Seitz, first state judge to order desegregation of a school. He also talks about Charles Hamilton Houston, William Hastie, Thurgood Marshall, and Howard University Law School. Part four. Judge Higginbotham recalls the Marian Anderson incident in Philadelphia in 1939. He also discusses the extension of legal strategy in civil rights cases beyond education into employment and voting rights, as in Smith v. Allwright. Higginbotham details the extensive pattern of violence in the South and the manipulation of the voter registration process. For example, registrars would ask African Americans for absurd qualification information, such as the number of gallons of water in the ocean. Judge Higginbotham recalls cases about labor unions, railways, housing rights, restrictive covenants in the 1940s, and fair housing in 1968. Part five. Judge Higginbotham's advice to young people: don't try to save the entire world, try to save the people next to you. Higginbotham discusses Powell v. Alabama, the Scottsboro case, Brown v. Mississippi, and John W. Davis.

167. Interview with Alice Jackson Stuart (57:17)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
Part one. Alice Jackson Stuart recounts her experiences as the first African American student to apply to the University of Virginia. When Donald Gaines Murray applied to University of Maryland School of Law, Ms. Stuart (who already had a bachelor's degree from Virginia Union University in 1933) spoke with family friend and Murray's lawyer Charles Hamilton Houston about helping to advance integration of higher education by provoking a legal case via her application to the University of Virginia graduate school of education. Part two. Ms. Stuart recalls different events that occurred during litigation of her case during 1935 and 1936. She explains that when the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill awarding scholarships and living expenses to minority students to attend out-of-state schools, she applied to and then attended Columbia University for her master's degree. She talks about other important Virginians who benefited from the bill, including Spotswood Robinson. She also discusses her teaching career. Part three. Ms. Stuart talks about witnessing a lynch mob, which ended in the killing of African American taxi driver Lee Snell, at Bethune-Cookman University where she taught. She also discusses teaching at Howard University, the Richmond public school system, Rutgers University, and Middlesex County College in New Jersey, among other career accomplishments.

168. Interview with Allan Parker (18:53)

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.

169. Interview with Alvin J. Bronstein (57:56)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
Part one. J. Clay Smith talks about Charles Hamilton Houston as the architect of the modern civil rights movement. From 3:50 to 10:40, footage of Houston and William Hastie portraits. From 10:40 to end, Alvin J. Bronstein interviewed in his office. As a young lawyer Mr. Bronstein traveled south in 1964 for Freedom Summer. He was sent to St. Augustine, Florida to work on a law suit that would force hotels to serve African Americans. He then went to Mississippi and stayed for five years as a trial lawyer in Macomb where there had been 37 church bombings. He set up offices around the South as part of the Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee funded by the ACLU. In 1968, civil rights cases in Mississippi had changed from defense of African Americans to cases advocating for rights. Part two. After Mississippi Mr. Bronstein went to Harvard for three years, then down to New Orleans, where he set up a training program for young African American lawyers. In 1972, he started the ACLU National Prison Project after the Attica prison riot. Mr. Bronstein describes what happened at Attica State Prison in New York. He explains the connection between civil rights and prisoner rights movements. He discusses what prisoner rights are or should be, the state of prisoner rights law in the mid-1980s, the death penalty, and incarceration rates. He says that poor people and people of color make up the prison population, and incarceration is not cost-effective. Part three. Mr. Bronstein recalls Judge Harold Cox in Mississippi referring to African Americans as chimpanzees while in court; the same judge presided over the trial of law enforcement officers for killing Chaney, Schwerner, Goodman in Mississippi in 1967, and he expressed outrage at the defendants and said the guilty verdict rendered was the proudest moment of his career. Lolis Elie, Nils Douglas, and Robert Collins were lawyers who practiced together but couldn't take the same taxi or eat in the same restaurant; now, these lawyers are highly placed judges in Mississippi. Mr. Bronstein says that Scandinavian countries have the best example of an incarceration system and that allowing prisoners to maintain contact with families is an important part of rehabilitation. Mr. Bronstein discusses a famous case called Battle v. Anderson.

170. Interview with Anne Hobson Freeman (39:17)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
Part one. Attorney Oliver 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. Part two. Freeman relates the history of the Hunton and Williams Law firm in Richmond, Virginia, especially pertaining to the 1951 Prince Edward County integration case and Richmond integration cases. She states that the firm employed lawyers whose opinions fell on both sides of the integration issue. She also discusses several of the firm's lawyers individually.

171. Interview with Beulah Crosby Johnson (1:01:43)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
Part one. Professor Beulah Johnson reviews being a teacher in Tuskegee, Alabama, living in a segregated society, what the "black" part of town was like, voter registration, her involvement with the NAACP, what the New South is, the Reagan Administration, and teaching history properly. Part two. Mrs. Johnson details the Tuskegee Civic Association, gerrymandering, the importance of economic power, William P. Mitchell, and community involvement meetings. She also recalls the African American boycott of businesses in Tuskegee when whites refused to vouch for potential African American voters. Part three. 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.

172. 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.

173. 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.

174. Interview with Charles Morgan (1:17:06)

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.

175. 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.

176. Interview with Collins J. Seitz (2:14:22)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Higginbotham, A. Leon (Aloyisus Leon), 1928-1998
Summary:
Part one. Judge Collins Seitz recalls his childhood and schooling, the University of Delaware, the University of Virginia law school, and the DuPont scholarship. Part two. Mr. Seitz reports that discrimination was never discussed in law school, and separate but equal was never discussed while he was a young lawyer in Wilmington. Part three. Seitz talks about being appointed Vice Chancellor in Delaware's Court of Chancery. Important decisions he wrote in the corporate arena include the Bata Shoe case, Ringling Brothers case, and Campbell v. Loew’s. The first civil rights case he tried as judge was Parker v. University of Delaware in 1950. The case was based on the idea that separateness was inherently unequal. Part four. The per se theory, that segregation was inherently unequal, was a part of the Parker case, but Judge Seitz did not address it directly, so he decided the case on the question of whether or not school facilities were equal. Fundamental in his decision was the disparity in capital assets between the "white" University of Delaware and the "black" university known as Delaware State College, as well as terrible differences in curriculum and libraries. Seitz also comments on the Prince Edward County case in Virginia and his famous speech at a boys school in Wilmington. Part five. Seitz discusses his part in one of the five Brown v. Board of Education cases, Gebhart v. Belton, and his desire to declare separate but equal as unconstitutional in his written opinion, but he decided it was the place of the US Supreme Court to do so. He talks about the disparity between African American and white schools in Delaware, Louis Redding, and the granting of immediate relief. Part six. Seitz reviews Baker v. Carr and the Girard College case. Part seven. Different camera angles show Judge Higginbotham asking questions.

177. Interview with Constance Baker Motley (1:21:52)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
Part one. Judge Constance Baker Motley recalls her childhood and education, including her first experience with Jim Crow. The Gaines case in 1938 influenced her to become a lawyer. Clarence Blakeslee, a white philanthropist in Connecticut, paid for her law school tuition. She joined the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in 1945 as a clerk. She discusses the legal strategy to target southern graduate schools with enforcement of the Gaines decision. Part two. Judge Motley recalls the NAACP Legal Defense Fund campaign to address the lack of adequate graduate and professional schools for African American students in the South. She discusses the background of several higher education cases, including the 1946 Sweatt case in Texas and the Sipuel case in Oklahoma. The next step in the strategy was to bring suits in elementary and secondary education. Five of these cases culminated in the Brown v. Board of Education decision. She also reviews the immediate history of civil rights following the Brown decision. Part three. Motley describes the grassroots revolution for civil rights after the Brown decision as a surprise to the legal strategists at the NAACP. New laws on the state level reasserting discrimination were also an obstacle for Motley and her NAACP colleagues. In 1961 she represented James Meredith in his fight to enter the University of Mississippi; she also represented Charlayne Hunter Gault and Hamilton Holmes in their fights to enter the University of Georgia. She recalls the first case she ever tried in 1949 in Mississippi. Part four. The judge shares her memories of the early days of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, especially hearing stories by Thurgood Marshall about Charles Hamilton Houston and William Hastie. She heard Houston and Marshall argue the restrictive covenant cases at the US Supreme Court. During this visit to Washington DC, she and her African American comrades were not allowed to stay in DC hotels. She recalls the important cases devised or tried by Houston. Part five. Judge Motley lists the many changes since the Brown decision.

178. Interview with Delores R. Boyd (1:13:32)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
Part one. Footage of Montgomery, Alabama. At 8:00, Judge Dolores R. Boyd interview begins at her home in Montgomery. Part two. Judge Boyd offers opinions on the so-called New South, desegregation versus integration, the still-unrealized aspects of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, and accessing the civil rights movement via churches. Part three. Judge Boyd discusses her childhood role models, her school experiences, and the need for appreciation of African American culture. Part four. Ms. Boyd believes African Americans are struggling to keep what they have earned over past few decades. She says there is racism, especially because of economic disparity, and the law is critical to determining society's values. At 9:28, footage of Boyd at her office.

179. Interview with Donald Watkins (39:08)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
Part one. Civil rights attorney Donald Watkins talks about Montgomery’s challenges, like the Confederate Flag flying on the Alabama Capitol. He also covers George Wallace, the continuing fight for civil rights, the teacher accreditation exam case, and achieving parity in society via the law. He remembers an African American custodian at the University of Alabama law school, Remus Rhodes, who taught the first African American students there how to use the library and how to form study groups. Part two. Watkins continues discussing Remus Rhodes, the custodian who became mentor to the first African American students at University of Alabama law school, as well as civil rights law history. At 11:30 minutes, footage of rural road and neighborhood.

180. Interview with Drewary Brown (20:13)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
Drewary Brown talks about social and economic life in Charlottesville during the civil rights era and in 1987. Mr. Brown walks down the Mall in Charlottesville. At 12:37, interview with Florence Bryant in front of Jefferson School in Charlottesville. Ms. Bryant discusses the work of the NAACP on behalf of teachers. She mentions J. Rupert Picott, Aline Black, and Melvin Austin as instrumental in helping African American teachers get equal pay in Virginia in 1940. See also reports her involvement in desegregating schools in Charlottesville. She regards Charlottesville as a leader in desegregation.

181. 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.

182. 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.

183. 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.

184. Interview with Eugene Williams (19:58)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
Florence Bryant advocates the teaching of African American history. She tells about her own life. At 7:49 interview with Mr. Williams begins. Mr. Williams discusses the historical importance of the Charlottesville street on which he stands during the interview. He offers his views on public housing and his promotion of scattered housing for low income families.

185. 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.

186. Interview with Florence Coleman Bryant (40:11)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
Part one. Drewary Brown talks about social and economic life in Charlottesville during the civil rights era and in 1987. Mr. Brown walks down the Mall in Charlottesville. At 12:37, interview with Florence Bryant in front of Jefferson School in Charlottesville. Ms. Bryant discusses the work of the NAACP on behalf of teachers. She mentions J. Rupert Picott, Aline Black, and Melvin Austin as instrumental in helping African American teachers get equal pay in Virginia in 1940. See also reports her involvement in desegregating schools in Charlottesville. She regards Charlottesville as a leader in desegregation. Part two. Ms. Bryant advocates the teaching of African American history. She tells about her own life. At 7:49 interview with Mr. Williams begins. Mr. Williams discusses the historical importance of the Charlottesville street on which he stands during the interview. He offers his views on public housing and his promotion of scattered housing for low income families.

187. Interview with Frances Brand (59:20)

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.

188. Interview with Fred Gray (1:21:52)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
Part one. Footage of exteriors of houses (and William Elwood) until 8:55. Then civil rights attorney Fred Gray discusses Alabama lawyers, Arthur Shores, and becaming a lawyer in order to try civil rights cases. Gray had to go to law school outside of Alabama as African American schools in Alabama didn't offer what he wanted. He taught himself Alabama state law while in Ohio. Gray describes developing strategies for his civil rights cases. He also talks about the Montgomery bus boycott. Part two. Mr. Gray recalls his 1954 defense of an African American juvenile arrested on Montgomery bus (before the Rosa Parks arrest). Gray talked to Rosa the day before she was arrested and represented her in court. Mr. Gray remarks that Montgomery bus cases like Browder v. Gayle were the first major application of Brown's meaning. Gray describes the difficulty of registering African American voters because registrars would go missing, even after the courts ordered them to register African Americans. To avoid the impact of African American voters, Alabama redrew Tuskegee boundaries to include only white people. Mr. Gray explains Tuskegee gerrymandering and Gomillion v. Lightfoot. Part three. Mr. Gray goes over details of Gomillion v. Lightfoot, recalls how Tuskegee Institute was no longer within the city of Tuskegee because of the new boundaries. Mr. Gray discusses Lee v. Macon County Board of Education, a school discrimination case that managed to include all public schooling in Alabama. Gray explains how litigating the rights of students in order to end segregation also meant dealing with the rights of teachers. Although the Alabama African American teachers associations weren't part of the original suit, they joined the case. Part four. Mr. Gray acknowledges the Bicentennial of the Constitution in 1987, and he discusses how the Constitution was not written to include African Americans. It is the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments and various civil rights acts that make the Constitution a living document for African Americans. Gray talks about the Tuskegee Civic Association and gives a lot of credit to local banker Allan Parker. Mr. Gray also covers rehearsing the Gomillion case and the immediate result of Gomillion.

189. Interview with Gardner L. Bishop (39:32)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
Part one. Civil rights activist Gardner Bishop talks about meeting with Charles Hamilton Houston to get money for a lawyer to represent the Consolidated Parents Group. Houston sent a letter on the group's behalf to newspapers, then offered to take the case himself for free. Mr. Bishop talks about the case, how Houston became ill and asked James Nabrit to take over for him. Houston asked Mr. Bishop to visit him in the hospital just before he died. Mr. Bishop talks about hosting Consolidated Parents Group meetings in his basement. Part two. Mr. Bishop recalls meeting James Nabrit, who changed case to include enrolling black students in an all-white school. Mr. Bishop speaks of his amazement at the wonderful condition and facilities of the school in the white neighborhood. He also visited a school in a black neighborhood, and it was crowded and dilapidated. Mr. Bishop remembers visiting the Supreme Court to hear the Consolidated Parents Group case. He was one of the pallbearers for Houston.

190. 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.

191. 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.

192. 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.

193. 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.

194. Interview with H. Brandt "Brandy" Ayers (34:24)

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.

195. Interview with Herbert O. Reid (1:06:44)

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.

196. Interview with J. Clay Smith (57:56)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
Part one. Civil rights attorney and professor J. Clay Smith discusses the beginning of Howard University Law School and John Mercer Langston. Mr. Smith says the law school's mission was always to make the Constitution a living document. Early students didn't have a high school diploma, just a certificate of literacy. Most first African American lawyers and judges in different states were graduates of Howard. Charles Hamilton Houston taught at Howard; he himself went to Harvard Law School. Houston was known as a hard taskmaster. He was criticized for trying to Harvardize Howard, but he knew the law school had to be comparable to others. Part two. Mr. Smith recalls Houston practicing civil rights test cases in court rooms at Howard University. Both faculty and students would pose as the different Supreme Court justices trying the case the next week. Thurgood Marshall was great with people; William Hastie was a gifted writer. Mr. Smith recounts that either Houston or Marshall had to sleep in caskets in African American mortuaries while traveling around the South to assist other lawyers due to threats from the KKK. Mr. Smith contends that the scholarly community is still biased about giving credit to African American scholars. Part three. Mr. Smith talks about Houston as the architect of the modern civil rights movement. Women's liberation lawyers, even conservative lawyers, use the legal strategy designed by Houston to change law. From 3:50 to 10:40, footage of Houston and Hastie portraits. From 10:40 to end, Alvin J. Bronstein interviewed in his office. As a young lawyer Mr. Bronstein traveled south for 1964 Freedom Summer. He was sent to St. Augustine, Florida to work on a law suit that would make hotels serve African Americans. He then went to Mississippi and stayed for five years as a trial lawyer in Macomb where there had been 37 church bombings. He set up offices around the South as part of the Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee funded by the ACLU.

197. Interview with Jack Bass (1:19:51)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
Part one. Professor Jack Bass talks about Judge J. Waites Waring and his daring decisions. Mr. Bass also recalls the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals applying a broad interpretation of Brown v. Board of Education to its decisions during the civil rights era. For example, in the Montgomery bus boycott case, the Fifth Circuit Court declared that Brown had overturned Plessy v. Ferguson. Mr. Bass offers remarks concerning Judge Richard Taylor Rives, Judge John R. Brown's dissent in Gomillion v. Lightfoot, and socioeconomic changes in the South. Part two. Mr. Bass describes the African American diaspora to the North. Mr. Bass talks about Judge Frank M. Johnson and his judicial decisions reshaping the structure of society in Alabama. Mr. Bass comments on the problems faced by judges, as well as white lawyers who represented African Americans, and their families when the the judges applied equal rights and protections to minorities. He also talks about Judge John R. Brown, pre-civil rights era voter registration for African Americans, absurd voter registration rules, and intimidation of African American plaintiffs. Part three. Mr. Bass quotes Judge John R. Brown's dissent in Gomillion v. Lightfoot. Bass says that Charles Houston thought that education reform was the key to promoting civil rights in all areas. Bass continues to talk about judges of the Fifth Circuit, including Elbert Tuttle and John Minor Wisdom. In 1963 in Birmingham, Bull Connor expelled a large group of African American students a few weeks before graduation, a decision that a local judge upheld, but Judge Tuttle took immediate action to open the school to all students the next day. Judge Wisdom was instrumental in calling an end to the deliberate speed clause of the Brown decision by ruling that the only constitutional desegregation plan is one that works quickly. Wisdom also put the onus of desegregation plans on school boards and administrations instead of politicians. Part four. Mr. Bass explains that the Fifth Circuit Court defined a new kind of federalism. They incorporated into the Constitution the concept of equality found in the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Bass declares that the great heroes of the civil rights movement are the African American plaintiffs in the lawsuits. He comments on the changes in the South after Congress validated the decisions of the courts with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voter Rights Act of 1965. Mr. Bass comments on the legal struggle in South Carolina, especially noting Judge Matthew Perry and Judge Skelly Wright.

198. Interview with Jack Greenberg (44:54)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Higginbotham, A. Leon (Aloyisus Leon), 1928-1998
Summary:
Part one. Civil rights attorney and professor Jack Greenberg talks about his involvement with the NAACP civil rights defense fund. He recalls his work on a Japanese citizen relocation rights case. He discusses important cases in civil rights law and his involvement in two of the five cases that constituted Brown v. Board of Education, the Delaware case and the Kansas case. Part two. Mr. Greenberg remarks he does not believe Southern society would be integrated if it had been left up to the states; it would be like South Africa and Apartheid. He mentions major cases litigated in Virginia, including the Davis case, the Prince Edward County case, and the NAACP v. Button case, wherein the Virginia General Assembly tried to put the NAACP out of business by making it illegal for it to function. Civil rights cases were filed purposefully in federal court because federal judges were insulated from state politics somewhat; there wasn't the problem of being reelected. Mr. Greenberg contends that the federal courts made civil rights possible. Part three. Mr. Greenberg recalls that Virginia's attempt to destroy the NAACP was really about a small group of Virginia lawyers, like Spotswood Robinson, Oliver Hill, Samuel Tucker. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund in New York relied on law school academics, legal scholars, and social scientists. Interview ends at 3:30. Footage resumes with Judge A. Leon Higginbotham being interviewed while walking around Columbia University. Mr. Higginbotham talks about Greenberg and Columbia Law School's impact on civil rights struggle

199. Interview with James Duren (1:33:19)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A, Kulish, Mykola
Summary:
Part one. James Duren explains how he became an activist for education in Clarendon County, South Carolina, by uncovering corruption in Clarendon School District One. He formed a parents group that grew into 200 members to fight the misuse of money by the district. Other parents describe how they became involved and actions they took to try to change the situation. Summmerton in Clarendon County, South Carolina, was the district involved in Briggs v. Elliott, one of the cases in Brown v. Board of Education. Part two. Clarendon County business people and parents of students in Clarendon School District One describe the fraud, mismanagement and extremely low educational standards of the district. Part three. Similar content to Disc 204. Part four. Clarendon County business people and parents of students in Clarendon School District One discuss race relations in South Carolina in the 1980s, as well as the many problems with Clarendon School District 1. Part five. Similar content to Disc 206.

200. Interview with James M. Nabrit (1:54:51)

Date:
2006
Main contributors:
Elwood, William A
Summary:
Part one: Civil rights attorney James Nabrit discusses childhood and segregation in Augusta, Georgia. He covers his law practice in Texas and how he fought to have one Democratic primary instead of two (one for whites, one for African Americans). He left Texas because Mordecai Johnson wanted him to come to Howard University. There, he taught in the law school and became dean, then secretary of the university, then president. He recounts how the news of Jack Johnson’s boxing victory in Augusta, Georgia was greeted by the taunting and burning of an African American man who was celebrating. Part two. Nabrit recalls how the civil rights struggle developed and touches upon African American economic development. He details his preparation for civil rights cases. He declares that winning court cases is not the same thing as achieving civil rights victory. Part three. Nabrit talks about Charles Houston and his contributions. Houston tried cases, met with people, spoke out, organized people. Houston is the one who connected all the lawyers together. Nabrit acknowledges the contributions of the lodges, like the Elks, the Moose. Nabrit elaborates on work he did on behalf of President Lyndon Johnson, like serving at the United Nations as deputy ambassador. Nabrit explains why he worked on Oklahoma civil rights cases. Part four. Nabrit extemporizes on ways to work the legal system. Part five. Stills of photographs. Part six. Mr. Nabrit had to work every summer while in school. His father would not give him money because Nabrit chose to study law instead of becoming a preacher. He discusses his appointment to the United Nations and President Lyndon Johnson. Unidentified woman at 11:46 talks about the background of Mr. Nabrit and why Elwood interviewed him. Still photographs at 13:30, many of Nabrit with various US presidents and officials.