In this Book
- Voices of Civil Rights Lawyers: Reflections from the Deep South, 1964–1980
- Book
- 2017
- Published by: University Press of Florida
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.
Kent Spriggs, author of the two-volume Representing Plaintiffs in Title VII Actions, has been a civil rights lawyer for over fifty years. He practices in Tallahassee, Florida, where he was a city commissioner and mayor.Table of Contents
- List of Figures
- pp. xi-xii
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xvii-xviii
- List of Abbreviations
- pp. xix-xx
- Editor’s Note
- pp. xxi-xxii
- Introduction
- pp. 1-6
- 1. Children of the South
- The Making of a Lawyer
- pp. 9-16
- How I Became a Civil Rights Lawyer
- pp. 17-27
- From Gardendale, Alabama
- pp. 27-29
- Growing Up in Bama
- pp. 34-36
- 2. Children of the North
- Growing Up on the Gold Coast
- pp. 42-46
- Race Consciousness
- pp. 46-54
- Why Did I Go?
- pp. 54-56
- Growing Up in Washington, D.C
- pp. 56-68
- 3. Big Events
- Miscegenation Comes to Mississippi
- pp. 94-96
- 4. The Tenor of the Times
- Mass Meetings, Demonstrations, and Boycotts
- pp. 109-119
- Being Married to a Civil Rights Lawyer
- pp. 120-127
- C. B. King, Iconic Civil Rights Lawyer
- pp. 135-138
- “Summer Vacation” in Mississippi
- pp. 141-146
- Get a Bullet in Your Car at the Law Library
- pp. 147-148
- The Politics of Civil Rights Lawyering
- pp. 148-154
- Mississippi Notes
- pp. 160-163
- Opening Up the Closed Society
- pp. 163-166
- 5. Arrests of Lawyers (and Other “Minor Indignities”)
- Doing a Little Time in Holly Springs
- pp. 173-177
- Arrested by Leander Perez Sr
- pp. 189-195
- A Very Bad Morning in Rankin County
- pp. 202-203
- 6. Modes of Law Practice
- Private Practice in Alabama
- pp. 234-238
- Nonprofit and Private Practice in Alabama
- pp. 238-246
- Part 3. Basic Legal Rights
- pp. 247-248
- 7. Access to Justice
- The Friendly Judicial Climate
- pp. 249-254
- 8. Voting Rights and Political Representation
- Voting Shenanigans in Madison Parish
- pp. 255-257
- Civil Rights Lawyers Emerge into Politics
- pp. 257-258
- Voting Rights in Edgefield County
- pp. 259-266
- Challenging At-Large Elections
- pp. 266-270
- Voting in Leflore County
- pp. 272-274
- 9. Public Accommodations
- Solomon Seay Seeks Public Accommodation
- pp. 275-280
- Desegregating the Neshoba County Courthouse
- pp. 280-281
- Integrating the Fox Theater
- pp. 281-291
- Desegregating the Parliament House Hotel
- pp. 296-297
- 10. School Desegregation and Municipal Equalization
- Ulysses S. Grant’s Legacy
- pp. 298-303
- The Legal Defense Fund’s Massive Effort
- pp. 312-319
- 11. Employment Discrimination
- Crown Zellerbach Becomes the Standard
- pp. 324-330
- 12. Constitutional Race-Based Litigation and the Friendly Judicial Climate Lead to Other Areas of Constitutional Litigation
- 13. How the Civil Rights Movement and Litigation Informed Other Movements for Social Justice
- The Legacy of Other Social Justice Movements
- pp. 357-362
- 14. Framing the Contemporary Dialogue of Race
- The Trojan Horse Called “Diversity”
- pp. 366-373
- White Supremacy Lives
- pp. 374-380
- Conclusion
- pp. 381-384
- About the Editor
- pp. 385-386
- List of Contributors
- pp. 387-388