| Contents |
Introduction -- Part 1. How civil rights lawyers emerged. 1. Children of the South. The making of a lawyer / Fred Gray ; How I became a civil rights lawyer / Barbara Phillips ; From Gardendale, Alabama / Jack Drake ; Growing up in Winnsboro, South Carolina / Laughlin McDonald ; Growing up in Bama / Larry Menefee -- 2. Children of the North. Growing up in the shadow of the Holocaust / Armand Derfner ; Growing up on the Gold Coast / John C. Brittain ; Race consciousness / David Lipman ; Why did I go? / Mac Farmer ; Growing up in Washington, D.C. / Kent Spriggs -- Part 2. The context of civil rights litigation. 3. Big events. Selma once more : the 1965 Selma March / Fred Gray ; The first damages judgment against the KKK / Larry Aschenbrenner ; The 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago : white Mississippi delegation barred / Larry Aschenbrenner and Armand Derfner ; Senator McClellan seeks to prove SNCC is communist / Reber Boult ; Miscegenation comes to Mississippi / Armand Derfner ; The full court press for voting rights in Alabama / Norm Siegel ; Mississippi seeks to ban the civil rights lawyers / Larry Aschenbrenner -- 4. The tenor of the times. Mass meetings, demonstrations, and boycotts / Larry Aschenbrenner ; Being married to a civil rights lawyer / Barbara Lipman ; From civil rights worker to civil rights lawyer / Jim Lewis ; C.B. King, iconic civil rights lawyer / Dennis Roberts ; Seeking justice for a blind black man in front of Judge Cox / Bill Ferguson ; "Summer vacation" in Mississippi / Kent Spriggs ; Get a bullet in your car at the law library / Larry Aschenbrenner ; The politics of civil rights lawyering / Henry Aronson ; The Rev. C.K. Steele and racism in Tallahassee / Kent Spriggs ; Mississippi notes / Elliott C. Lichtman ; Opening up the closed society / Armand Derfner -- 5. Arrests of lawyers (and other "minor indignities"). Two arrests while practicing law in Mississippi / John C. Brittain ; Doing a little time in Holly Springs / Armand Derfner ; Elements of procedure I missed at Harvard Law School / Mac Farmer ; Two arrests, a beating, and a moment of weakness / Kent Spriggs ; Arrested by Leander Perez Sr. / Richard Sobol ; Getting punched by Sheriff Clark and other misadventures / Henry Aronson ; Get a rifle barrel in the mouth for monitoring an election in Belzoni / David Lipman ; A very bad morning in Rankin County / Constance Slaughter-Harvey -- 6. Modes of law practice. 538 1/2: the Legal Defense Fund Office in Mississippi / Fred Banks ; Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee in Louisiana / Richard Sobol ; Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee in Mississippi / Mac Farmer ; It changed my life : Lawyers Constitutional Rights Committee in Mississippi / Armand Derfner ; The formation of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law / Larry Aschenbrenner ; Private practice in Alabama / Larry Menefee ; Nonprofit and private practice in Alabama / Jack Drake -- Part 3. Basic legal rights. 7. Access to justice. The friendly judicial climate / Armand Derfner -- 8. Voting rights and political representation. Voting shenanigans in Madison Parish / Richard Sobol ; Civil rights lawyers emerge into politics / Fred Banks ; Voting rights in Edgefield County / Laughlin McDonald ; Challenging at-large elections / Larry Menefee ; Mississippi pushes back against the Voting Rights Act / Larry Aschenbrenner ; Voting in LeFlore County / David Lipman -- 9. Public accommodations. Solomon Seay seeks public accommodation / Solomon Seay ; Desegregating the Neshoba County courthouse / Don Marmaduke ; Integrating the Fox Theatre / Richard Tuttle ; Trying to get service at Bill's Highway 80 24-hour Truck Stop / Richard Sobol ; Integrating the Admiral Benbow Inn swimming pool / Larry Aschenbrenner ; Desegregating the Parliament House Hotel / Henry Aronson -- 10. School desegregation and municipal equalization. Ulysses S. Grant's legacy / John Maxey ; School desegregation and municipal equalization / David Lipman ; The Legal Defense Fund's massive effort / Fred Banks ; Desegregating schools in northern Mississippi / Kent Spriggs -- 11. Employment discrimination. Crown Zellerbach becomes the standard / Richard Sobol ; The perfectly segregated plant in the perfectly segregated town / Kent Spriggs ; Monsanto : fair employment comes to a megaplant / Kent Spriggs -- Part 4. How the civil rights movement and litigation advanced other movements for social justice. 12. Constitutional race-based litigation and the friendly judicial climate lead to other areas of constitutional litigation. The constitution comes to the state residential hospitals / Jack Drake ; The rule of law comes to infamous Parchman Prison / David Lipman -- 13. How the civil rights movement and litigation informed other movements for social justice. The legacy of other social justice movements / Barbara Phillips ; Civil rights in Mississippi informs LGBT concerns / Mac Farmer -- 14. Framing the contemporary dialogue of race. The Trojan horse called "diversity" / Barbara Phillips ; White supremacy lives / Larry Menefee -- Conclusion. |
| Scope and content |
Civil rights lawyers were handmaidens of change who worked in the back rooms during twentieth-century America's era of profound social upheaval. Kent Spriggs, a noted lawyer of the period, gathers stories of legal maneuvers and memories of racial injustices from 26 voices--white and black, male and female, Northern-born, and Southern-born--many of whom share their own defining moments as civil rights lawyers. This collective perspective adds depth to the history of the era and its window on the legal and extralegal activities that occurred away from the actual protest venues. The framing materials place civil rights litigation into the context of major events from the 1960s, and the concluding section reflects on contemporary relevancies and continuing legacies. |
| Abstract |
"While bus boycotts, sit-ins, and other acts of civil disobedience were the engine of the civil rights movement, the law provided context for these events. Lawyers played a key role amid profound political and social upheavals, vindicating clients and together challenging white supremacy. Here, in their own voices, twenty-six lawyers reveal the abuses they endured and the barriers they broke as they fought for civil rights. These eyewitness accounts provide unique windows into some of the most dramatic moments in civil rights history--the 1965 Selma March, the first civil judgment against the Ku Klux Klan, the creation of ballot access for African Americans in Alabama, and the 1968 Democratic Convention. The narratives depict attorney-client relationships extraordinary in their mutual trust and commitment to risk-taking. White and black, male and female, northern- and southern-born, these recruits in the battle for freedom helped shape a critical chapter of American history."--Publisher's website. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Genre/form | History. |
| Genre/form | History. |
| LCCN | 2017005522 |
| ISBN | 9780813054322 (cloth ; acid-free paper) |
| ISBN | 081305432X (cloth ; acid-free paper) |
| Standard identifier# |
40027280744 |
