Transcripts For CSPAN3 1940s Black Voter Suppression 20171228

And slaverys legacies but the obligations that history has put to us. Its my pleasure today to introduce our two speakers in order of their appearance. First up this morning is professor Tracy Campbell of the department of history of the university of kentucky. Professor campbell who received his ba from the university of kentucky has a remarkable record of teaching and scholarship on the political and social history of the United States in the 20th century. Before arriving at kentucky, he taught at morris hill and Union Colleges and since hes been at kentucky, hes been recognized not only for his scholarship but his skill as a classroom teacher. Hes the author of numerous articles and five major books including most recently his 2013 study of the gateway arch in st. Louis which he tellingly calls a biography. His 2005 work, deliver the vote, a had history of Election Fraud and american political tradition 1742 to 2004. Surely this is a book we need take up today, if not for the first time, then even a second time. At present he is hard at work on a history of the year 1942, subtitled americas year of peril. The meaning of ch will become clear toorb us with his presentation today. Soldiers, poll taxes and race in the 19 election. And a Pulitzer Prize winning a native of florence, alabama and a graduate of Washington University in st. Louis and the Journalism School at northwestern. He jien joined the faculty after working as a journalist and editor at the nations most distinguished newspapers. Among them the boston gleb, the Philadelphia Inquirer and atlantas journal of constitution. The 2007 book he co authored the press, the civil rights struggle and the awakening off a nation, won the Pulitzer Prize for history that year. The New York Times described the race speak as a richly textured and balanced narrative that reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the news media. The subtle negotiations, mix hadded opportunities and sometimes heroic efforts that iffluenced the on the ground coverage of the movement and its opponents. No doubt this book needs to be read or reread today. In recent years professor has directed the georgia civil rights cold cases project which enlists emory undergraduates and investigating the history of the jim crow era by investigating unpunished racially motivated crimes murders that occurred in that state. His talk reflects the work of the journalistic career and case in the cold case project. The whites only primaries, the last gast how it played out in the unyielding soil of georgia. So please welcome me in joining on the history of voting in the United States. Mr. Campbell. [ applause ] thank you, woody, for that very kind introduction. And thank you to the university of south florida for invitinging me to such a timely and really remarkable gathering. And to you, president ricardo for your kind hospitality. And for tanner pots for making the trains run on time. We really appreciate it. Im going to talk about a snap shot this morning but i think rarlts pretty revealing snap shot. The premise is pretty straight forward. If you want to understand some of the realities of Voting Rights, i think its useful to observe those rights when had the country is under its greatest stress and its very survival is on the line and just as individuals or families undergo stress or trauma, so can countries and those moments expose a person or countrys inherent strengths quite like nothing else. Things tend to rise to it surface under that kind of pressure. In the 20th century that stress was never greater than the year following the attack on pearl harbor and americas entry into world war ii. The way the country debated Voting Rights that year in war time and conducted a national election. I think if we look at the context of it, tells us a good deal of the fragile nature in which the 15th amendment was negated at a crucial moment. Now, theres a collective narrative really eabout 1942. I think we sometimes read history backward. We know were going to win the war so we kind of gloss over some things. But if were going to look at 1942, i think its helpful to try and understand on its own terms. But the collective narrative kind of goes like this. After a it alittle bit of early panic, the nation came together, built a massive production miracle, we cast partisan and sectional differences aside and once the allies turn back the japanese midway and landed in north africa, ultimate victory was in sight. Unity was the common theme. Led in tom brokaws words, the greatest society has ever produced end quote. I think if were going to understand 1442, we also have to see a different reality. And this is a series of paintings by thomas hart done in 1942 and reaction to pearl harbor. He called about eight of these paintings americas year of peril, 1942. And this one is similar to so many of the other themes of what was possible. This is a time in which the federal government is selling insurance policies against attack and people as far inland as iowa and indiana are buying these policies to make sure they would be protected against any kind of foreign attack. At a time in which some of government worried we might lose the war or that areas along both coasts or well inland could be subject to many more attacks, a time in which one former president called on the nation to give Franklin Roosevelt dict oriole powers. And would not be used as some excuse to expand Voting Rights and thats what i would like to talk about this morning. Want to focus on two moments really that happened in the falloff 1942 that i think are particularly instructive. One occurred in september. As congress considered an issue that seemed on its face without any without any alter r tearier motives. Congress debated a bill that would allow soldiers serving away from home to vote by absentee ballot. By this time over 4 million americans were serving in the military and almost all would not be home in their precinct to vote on election day. So at time when democracy itself was at stake, what better way than so its enduring character than by allowing those to vote. They were anxious to support the measure which had the support of veterans groups and of course families of soldiers. Yet, when representative of the Third District of tennessee inserted an amendment that waved the poll tax requirement for soldiers who were from eight southern states, the matter exposed one of the underlying fault lines of american politics. If the poll tax could be waved in this one specific circumstance, some worry it could be used as a wedge and out law it in other elections and that was a threat to many white southerners who felt elections were purely local affairs and inasmuchtrusions were unconstitutional assaults. Representative sam hobs described the soldier voting bill quote as an attack on our southern way of life and White Supremacy. They actually said these things. If theres one thing about the 40s is they just said it. Theres no code. Theres no trying to say what they actually meant. And youll see what i mean in a few minutes. He said it was an attempt to cater to the soldier vote that expense of the foundation of our democracy. End quote. Now since reconstruction, poll taxes were some of the most effective ways along with violence and literacy of keeping African Americans from vetting. Heres a particular poll tax receipt from texas. I believe its a 1. 75. Most were between 1 and 2 and they were cumulative. So if you miss election, you have to makeup for it it. So you can never get by without paying them and in 1942 they were still in effect in virginia, South Carolina, georgia, arkansas, texas, mississippi, and tennessee. The poll tax kept about 11 Million People from voting and by 1940 its estimated about 3 of African Americans in the south were registered to vote. Poll taxes also kept poor whites from voting. While 66 of adults in nonpoll tax states voted, about 24 voted in those eight states. And they skewed the whole idea of Representative Democracy. Historian glendau gilmore notes in 19 fourk40, georgia edward c had been elected by 587 votes while a Washington State representative won his with 147,000. Now through their iron grip on Voting Rights, southern dip lupats were voted on time and time again. Heres a cartoon about the poll tax and if you can make out some of the figures they might look familiar because this was dr. Seuss who was a cartoonist who worked a lot with a periodical called p. M. Through their iron grip, southern democrats were elecced time and time again and their subsequent seniority meant crucial chairmanmanships. Southerners chair seven of the most powerful committees, including commerce, finance, Foreign Relations and rules. Now, no one in the house was more opposed to this amended soldier voting act than mississippis john rankten. In waveing it poll tax for soldiers, the 11term representative saw dangerous elements approaching. He said this was quote part of a longrange communistic way of and take out of the hands of white americans, the ability to conrotrol the election and givet to elements constantly trying to destroy enterprise and stir up trouble, end of quote. Rankins arguments failed to win over a majority of house colleagues. But in outrage he called the final bill quote nothing more than a scheme to abolish state governments and added the next step will be to abolish congress. End quote. Now, remind you they actually said this. The Senate Passed the bill. Also senators tom connolly of texas and lister hill of alabama sat in on the process of approving the measure. Opponents of the bill understood the political implications of denying soldiers the righting to vote. And were reluctant to wager a fullscale filibuster. Signed into law september 15th, which allowed them to distribute postal cards to members of the armed forces who could then request a ballot from their state. This meant it was too threat to be fully operational for election day coming up in 48 days. But the poll tax debate is not quite over. Ill get to it in just a moment. So if we go to the election itself, the Roosevelt Administration in the falloff 1942 has reason to worry. In a previous Congressional Election in world war i, republicans took control of both houses. Throughout 1942 voters were frustrated with a lot of things. The slow pace of the war, gas and food rationing, higher taxes and congressional inaction on inflation. Congress had had moved swiftly to give themselves pensions, which produced another widespread outcry and a quick reversal just weeks later. So while fdr himself may not have been on the ballot, it was becoming a referendum of sorts to his handling of the war. Some worried fdr might use his war time powers to cancel the election altogether. So if all that was at stake, life magazine predicted it might be among the most fateful end of quote. In a gallop poll taken on the eve of the 1942 election Shows Americans favored democrats 52 48. But on Election Night republicans shocked many observers by picking up 43 house seats, nine senate seats. Making it the greatest gain by the Opposition Party in midterm erections since 1818. And particularly in the house where a 267155 spread was changed to a bare 222209 margin. With a switch of just seven democrats thin house, republicans could defeat any administration measure. Consequently it power of the reactionary southern block increased and house members like john rankin were elected to their house seats without any opposition. Among the it newly elected senators is mississippis james eastland, a wealthy plantation owner who become oneoponents fo rights. He won general election without facing any opposition. Now, the results of the 1942 elections were often interpreted in sweeping terms. The chicago tribune, which of course hated roosevelt said quote it people of this land have turned back the most terrible threat which has confronted them in their national history. Time magazine, quote no one can say in the retrospect of history, exactly when one Political Movement dies and another is born. But anyone could see Franklin Roosevelts new deal was sick, end of quote. The gops success in 23 states with a combined Electoral College vote spelled potential disaster for fdr or anyone else who may be thinking of running in 1944. When i think interpreting it election in such sweeping terms, the election witnessed the lowest turnout, 33. 9 for a congressional race in the 20th century. Lower than even the 2014 Congressional Election. Although it soldier voting act had been passed in september allowing soldiers to vote, only 28,000 could vote. Less than 1 of those serving overseas. So interpreting what the American People thought or felt about 1942 is hard to get at from the election results. But regardless of the turnout, the election had immediate consequences. Two remaining agencies from the new deal, the wpa and ccc were quickly abolished. Efforts to expand Social Security and medical insurance, yet the political wins were not necessarily reflected in the election i think hides underlying impulses. For example in a poll taken by Fortune Magazine in november, the outlines of what some people hope for after the war provides a glimpse that i dont think a lot of americans understand. 74 of apaircmericans thought t government should provide medical care for those who need ed it 31. 9 , almost one out of three believe after the war there should be a law limesing the amount of money an individual could earn and that was similar. Roosevelt was proposing a limit on incomes in 1942 can was also very popular. When asked quote do you think some form of socialism would be a good or bad think, 25 said it would be good, 34 werent quite sure yet. So thats one vote. The second moment, when Voting Rights are exposed came after the election. And the senate convened a bill to consider a house bill that had had been sponsored by representative lee buyer. A democrat that had sponsored this bill months before hand. Although the bill falsed solid opposition from southern democrats who said the war quote waged war against the white people of the southern states, it passed the house but with had it came to the senate faced a filibuster and this time after it election without soldiers involved, southerners were ready to launch a filibuster and it was led by many people including theodore bill bow of mississippi and russell of georgia. Together with other southern senators they brought the senate to a stand still for seven days in november of 1942 as endless quarm calls were demanded as well as complete readings of the journal. He made it clear that quote if this poll tax passes, the next step will be to remove the education qualifications and once thats done, we will have no way of preventing negroes from voting, end quote. Richard russell defended reconstruction and it history of Race Relations in his state, saying quote any fair minded man who studies the history of the last 75 years would commend the south and the great work we have done end of quote. So obviously he wouldnt consider you to be a fair minded man in this respect. It empass was here is another cartoon by dr. Seuss about thedth Theodore Bilbo. It reached a dramatic moment when majority leader barkley on the left, called for a forum and ordered when some southerners left the hall, their arest and one of those missing and was deeply offended by barkleys maneuver said being called a filibuster holds no terror for me, adding he would work with every means to defeat this iniquitous measure. When he asserted that the southerners resembled the exodus from egypt, mckeller said quote our socalled leader is leading us straight into the Republican Party. Barkley responded by saying quote this bills passage would infranchise 200,000 white people. Thats how he tried to sell the issue. Poor tenant farmers who may not want to vote but will think a long time for the right with it may be needed to put shoes on their bare foot children. The majority leaders efforts caused mckeller to withdraw his name from a letter he had signed urging president roosevelt to nominate barkley to the Supreme Court. With a seat that had recently been opened by justin burns resignation. The southern filibusters knew their action might be seen as obstructionest by many but not their white constituents. When spoke out quote, you must not have very much to do except to be sticking your nose if h into the home affairs of states that have been proven as capable of running their Home Business as your home state. He urged him to quote seize spending energies that dont effect you. We can get along without your help or gratuitous reform end of quote. The sponsors of the poll tax bill hoped that delaying tactics of a small minority of senators just days after American Forces landed in north africa might produce such outrage to intimidate them, but if anyone doubted the strength of the southern block they need look no further than doxy who quote we inhad tend to keep control of our state and see that it always remains in the domination of ang l anglo saxen supremacy. The senate failed to invoke and the poll tax bill was killed. While barkley fumed against the tax he said was a hang over from feudalism, it fails because too many southerners opposed and too many were reluctant to impose debate. Of the naacp said quote America Today is tasting the bitter fruits of a new cessation. A rebellion against Constitutional Government by a handful of out laws who have successfully defied it will of the people and a majority of the United States senate. Of all quotes this is my favorite. In reaction to that Theodore Bilbo boasted im as much a soldier in the preservation of the american scheme of government as the boys fighting and dying on guato canaltop made him as those fighting on the guado canal. Black Voting Rights remain nonexistent in 1942. The military remained segregated. We know blood supplies that were segregated and although it was supposed to representative lewis said quote what a travesty. Negroes were sending negroes to the firing line to die and fight for freedom while telling them theyicide have no part or parcel in freedom at home. Now, the gops november triumph in the aftermath of the poll tax filibuster gave its party hope that political winds were changing. The new Republican Party chair understood the southern block inhad stuted a formidable slice and also knew these crucial players, to them trumped everything. Anyone looking at evidence of the increasing dissatisfaction with the Republican Party from one of its own, they need look no further than alabama governor frank dixon. An out spoken critic of the party, a nephew of thomas dixon. Birth of a clansman and at the core of his righteous anger was White Supremacy that played out over the poll tax. In defending them, dixon drew his line in the sand and said quote the federal government is tampering with the one thing we cannot permit, will not permit, whatever the price to ourselves. He said the social structure of the soulth has been built and can only endure it implies separation of the races. He said our problem in alabama is different from any section in the world. Ours approaches 40 of the total. This means the balance of power. And many alabama counties theres 4 5 to 1. He said either white men control them or the ruin of the south end of quote. Newspaper of the afro noted that it was in the four freedoms the president said were at the heart of world war ii. Six years later dixon gave the key note address that state rights condition, a block of former southerners who bolted over civil rights and named straum thurman as their president ial candidate. Their actions did not occur in a vacuum. Had been fed and was on open display in 1942. So i think in conclusion and i want to do something a little different is ask a question i think historians need ask. Students, and students need to ask us and its a twoword question whats this . Whats the relevance . In 1942 the 15th amendment was nonexistence for millions of americans. So allow me to provide just one small example. In another decade maybe Second Lieutenant norma green might have been considered a hero a civil rights pioneer for what she did on an alabama bus in october of 1942 just as the soldier vote bill was being debated instead she was lucky she didnt die. She was an army nurse. She had volunteered for overseas duty. And she wanted to go shopping in montgomery, alabama. And when she tried to board a public bus was instructed to leave. When she refused she was arrested. She was put in a police van where four officers beat her, broke her nose, robbed her had and then arrested her for disorderly conduct. She was later released when authorities learned she was in fact in the military. But there were no charges filed against those that assaulted her. Not even an apology. But it provoked a. Philip randolph to write to bankhead of alabama protesting the brutal assault that green had had had suffered and hoped the senator would use his ability to bring those to justice. And bankhead who urged him not to bring any African American soldiers to the south didnt respond. He didnt respond because he didnt have to respond. He could ignore such assaults and the daily humiliation s injustices if dured by the alabama citizens whose nearly 1 million residents comprised over 1 3 of the population without any worry of paying for it on election day and he won reelection. He was one who won without any opposition. His silence coupled with the inhad action against the montgomery authorities demonstrates why the poll tax was so central in maintaining the power and policies of people like bankhead, bilbo, russell and why their successful filibuster led bilbo to compare his had actions to those dying on guado canal. But for those fighting for their rights such as charles s. Johnson, they understood as keenly as bilbo how the poll tax and lack of Voting Rights was central to the maintenance of jim crow. Just days after greens assault and arrest, they along with 54 other African American leaders met in durham, north carolinaing to discuss Racial Conditions in the south and out of that meeting came the durham manifesto. A pioneering but largely dismissed or forgotten document that stated how the war heightened. The first itemal on their agenda at work. And called for the abilation of the poll tax and all forms of discriminatory practices. Invasion of the law and intimidation of citizens seeking to exercise their right of franchise. They said quote in an hour of National Peril consid what was occurring, those civil rights leaders who met in durham understood that Voting Rights 70 years after the 15th amendment were a foundational demand in a society in which democracy did not exist in large parts of the nation. Thank you. [ applause ] dont make me follow him, please. That was great. Thank you for this conference and to all who have partes pated in it. I just think this is fantastic and im honored to be a part of it. This is a very fulisitous place and i noticed that at breakfast when tracy came down and im having a big breakfast and hes just getting a cup of coffee and i said do you need more for fuel and he looked at me like do i know you well to ask me a question like this. And glorias eating breakfast but shes in a hurry and hes saying gloria, take your time. Watch your digestive system or Something Like that. And i thought gosh, we already love each other. We just met. I do teach this gorgeous civil rights cold cases project youre going to see now. I am told control this. Are let me just show you one thing here. This is the website of the georgia civil rights cold cases project in which undergraduate students, although the law school has recently approached me with big plans and we look over these murders that took place to the late 1960s. And through the prism of these cases we examine georgia histories, southern history and by ultimate extension, national history. Each of these cases it turns out represent something different. We have it James Frazier case, represents a man killed in 1958 for driving a 1958 chevrolet impi impa impala. You know the narrative for that. It case of a young man hall, 17 years old, killed in 1962 in maken. He become as clear example of police overreaction, police poor training and so on and so forth. And we have quite a few cases where theres an intersection thats very compelling were developing more on having to do with the medical neglect that often accompanied the brutality cases,ing which professional physicians it opportunity to save the lives of African Americans who were the subject of brutality failed to do so and sometimes refused to do so. So and i want to be clear this is a project not aimed at the who done it because we know who done it. It one person was alive but he was dead when we got to him. Theres the why. If it students just come away thinking they know more about who did, that doesnt do them much good i think. So today were going to be talkling about the case of isaiah nixon. African american man or farmer in Montgomery County, georgia. I think ill show it to you on a map. He was 28 years old, a father of six a georgia voter and a member of the naacp. But his story has roots in two other men i want you ato meet. On the left is a man named lawny smith. Lawny smith, African American man living in texas and wanted to vote in the Democratic Party primary in the early 1940s and was willing to sue all the way to the United States Supreme Court to win the right to vote in the Democratic Party primary. Now this is particularly i want to say this for students who may not get the significance of that. Of course the south was one total bullwork of Democratic Party devotes and party members. The only republicans were African Americans for it most part and a few strange birds we all grew up with here in the south. My kind of birds, i might add. And so the kind of thing that a typical southern Democratic Party aclite of a bilbo or jean talmuch would say Something Like you dont need to vote in the democratic primary. We let you vote in the big election, the general election. Thats when the final decision is made. So youre going to get your say in the final election which it African Americans were smart enough to say all decisions are made in the primary and thats when we want to vote. So lawny smith took his case to the United States Supreme Court. You are not a private club and for the purposes of electing state Office Holders, you cannot exclude African American voters. And but we are private. No, youre not. And so they struck down the texas law and soality right 1945 seemingly becomes the law of the land except in georgia which seems to want to resist all of these decisions. Mississippi, alabama, all of them do. But this is georgia. They feel it moilth be vulnerable and they underline really, really a private club to try to establish no, we are different. But about three months after itx tks smith, a barber goes to the court house in columbus, georgia to vote and when you walked in a detective grabbed him and said what in the hell are you doing n and that was enough. And the white lawyer had two questions. Do you really want to sue the Democratic Party . Do you know what youre doing . And he did. And he did. And he tooking the case forward and he wins his case, forcing the georgia and state of georgia to allow blacks to vote. This causes enormous kaun consternation among Office Holders in georgia. Two stories that come about, maybe some would say im check providence on one. The other is in the congressional record that Theodore Bilbo when asked how are we going to stop them from voting . And he gives a speech which says the only way to stop them now is the night before. And when threeterm governor of georgia is asked by the exalted siclaups of the cucluks clku kl what are we going to do now . They can vote. . And he purportedly tears off a piece of paper and writes pistols and hands it to the exalted cyclo ps. The Supreme Court decision on king comes well, actually the Supreme Court doesnt decide. A very curages white federal judge in georgia with his power to vote and it gets upheld by the fifth u. S. Circuit court of appeals and they dont hear it. Theyre so emphatic what didnt you get about smith v wright. And they hand down their decision theyre not going to hear it in april of 1946, just before a georgia Gubernatorial Election in which tal mch is seeking a fourth term and hes the old populous, the fog horn, leg horn of our time and he is and having started as a populous who was fundamentally supportive of the new deal, he has fallen off that wagon pretty seriously and campaigned solely on a white supremacist platform and lets try a little sound of what old gene sounded like. And at this point i want to thank Atlanta Journal for coming out about two months ago and saying that talmadge was the it only governor in this race that was championed the restoration of a democratic white primary in georgia. My countryman when they said that they told a truth and the whole truth. Now what do my opponents say . They say that its arer the law and negroes will vote in the primaries. This year, next wednesday. Just stop right there. What do i say . I say its it law this year and some of the negroes will vote. The fewer the better. If im your governor, they wont vote an all white primary the next four years. So that was in georgia. Eugene talmadge is running and he wins. He wins his fourth term. Some of you know the story of what happened after that. Its quite an entertaining story. Gene was a fully besoughted man and he suffered from deep alcoholism. And in december of 1946, before two things can happen, he dies and the two things that didnt happen. The feds who were swarming the state, trying to find enough evidence to charge him with Voter Suppression of black votes are unable to bring enough evidence sghdite him before he dies and the other thing hes unable to do before he dies is take the oath of offices and it throws georgia into this turmoil because they dont have a governor. Its the first time in 1946 that georgia has elected a Lieutenant Governor and so the Lieutenant Governor says we just went through the whole process of establishing succession in the state. I become the governor now. And the incumbent governor said im not giving up the Governors Office yet. So theyre both claiming it. But talmadge forces were very wylie. They knew gene was ill and had arranged for enough voters in the state to cast writein votes for genes son, uherman that herman came in second or close enough that there were enough members of the legislature that the legislature runs into session and says by our lights huerman talmadge ought to be governor and theres fantastic footage on youtube in which herman just takes control of the Governors Mansion and the State Capitol and says i want to thank our governor for his fine service to the state and i have called in the state Highway Patrol and have returned him to his home where we wish him the best of luck. It ultimately does get settled by it state Supreme Court which is in fact Lieutenant Governor is correct and he is going to be the governor but were going to set a special election in 1948. So now were going to focus on what happened in 1948. And as you know in 1948 is a very critical time. Thats the three governors. On the national stage. Youve got harry truman running in his own election for the first time. He seems to be in danger of losing the entire south and because of Henry Wallaces break away youve got the left breaking away from him. He doesnt seem to have a chance and on top all of this, what does he do . Becomes the first president in the United States to speak to the naacp and does it on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and theres a little sound. There you go. He sleeps slowly. It is my deep conviction that we have reached a turning point in the long history of our countrys efforts to guarantee freedom and equality to all our citizens. Recent events in the United States and abroad have made us realize that it is more important today than ever before to insure that all americans enjoy when i say all americans, i mean all americans. [ applause ] thats what passed for clear code back then, okay. As we know, harry truman does get elected. How does this play out on the ground in georgia . Which is not going to go along with this. They are going to resist. And they have been part of the walkout at the democratic convention. Let me just you dont need to see the map. Lets go back to isaiah nixon. What my students do, they start out, heres their textbook. 234 pages of documents that weve gotten through the fbi freedom of information act request. Okay. And its a lot of federal memos, a lot of back and forth. You develop a narrative, and what you find out, a lot more from here than you did from the news clips at the time, because it wasnt that widely covered, is what happens to isaiah nixon in 1948 when hes voting in the governors race. Now, and this was a time when the naacp in Montgomery County was only about two years old. And it was growing. One record we have shows there were 84 black members of the naacp in a small county in Montgomery County which had fewer than 3,000 people total. That was pretty good after one year. And that was pretty hopeful for them. They have decided that theyre going to be supporting Herman Talmadges running against the Lieutenant Governor. Theyre going to support Herman Talmadges opponent, the Lieutenant Governor. Melvin thompson, so they decide to gather at the polling place in austin, georgia, among other polling places. As theyre gathered, a group of black men on their morning, the sheriff elect sees the black men and summons one of them over. A man named john harris. And john harris walks over to the sheriffelects car where he is seated, and they talk. And then john harris goes back to this gaggle of black men who are waiting to go in and vote, and the black men say to john harris, well john, what did old claude say to you . And john harris says, he said that if i know whats good for me, i wont vote today. And they said, and what did you say to him . And john harris said, i told him that i came here to vote, and i reckon thats what im going to do. And john harris went ahead and voted. And so did dover carter, the head of the naacp, father of a farmer and father of ten children. And so did isaiah nixon, and all three of them voted. John harris suffered from a threat. Dover carter by that later that day, as hes shuttling other blacks to the polls, is stopped on the side of the road by two white men and so brutally beaten that he gets medical care, and within a very short period of time, he has picked up his entire family and moved them to philadelphia, pennsylvania. And then theres isaiah nixon. Isaiah nixon was back at his farm later in the day, having voted. He had taken his wagon. He had a horse and a wagon to get him to the polls. And his mother, who owned the farm that they farmed on, 59 acres, begged him not to go. Begged him not to go. She knew what would happen. He said i have to do this. I have to do this. And he went and voted. Later that day, two white men two white men, jim a. And johnny johnson, showed up at his farm and said they wanted to talk to him. They had guns. Isaiah nixon knew them. He had grown up with them. And those of us who grew up in the southern culture can maybe understand this. As isaiah nixons mother would say later, they had dinner at our table. They came in our house as boys, as kids. They played with isaiah. Now they have shown up with guns, and they say, did you vote today . He said, well i did. So who did you vote for . And he said, well, i reckon i voted for that thompson fellow. They said come go with us. Lets go for a ride. He said im not going for a ride. He knew what that meant. It did not mean death necessarily. It meant he was going to come back pretty badly beaten. And he said im not going to do it. And he stepped back. And when he steps back, jim a. Johnson pulls out a gun and shoots him three times. His wife, isaiah nixons wife sally, who by the way, is still alive, stood on the porch and yelled, fall, isaiah. Fall and he wouldnt. Or he couldnt. He falls to the ground ultimately, just the gravity of his dead weight, and sally, who is two weeks having just given birth to their youngest child, goes down, picks him up, drags him up the steps into the farmhouse, puts him into bed. And we know all of this from two primary sources. One is his daughter, dorothy, who was 6 years old at the time, who saw it all. And who we found, and i brought her to emory to meet with our students. Okay. And shes wonderful. Mesmerizing. Without trying to be, and shes very honest about what she doesnt remember. The other source we have, theres some newspaper clips at the time that i go yeah, but theres this. Dover carter, after hes beaten up, and he gets medical care, the next day he goes to the hospital where isaiah nixon is. And we dont know why, if he went to see nixon or he went for further treatment, we dont know. He had to go two counties away, lawrence county, to see him there. It was the nearest hospital that would accept blacks. And he hears the whole story from isaiah nixon about what happened that day. And he gets in his car and he drives not to the savannah fbi office, but he drives to the atlanta fbi office. And he just talks and talks and talks and tells them everything he knows about what his own experience, the day before and what hes heard from isaiah nixon. So there becomes this terrific document that delineates everything that happened. Isaiah nixon on a second day in the hospital dies in claxton. And the sheriff is very clear that thats not the sheriffelect i was talking to you before about. This is the current sheriff who will soon go out of office because he was beaten by the sheriffelect, and he says there was no doubt this is because he voted. Isaiah nixons family is traumatized. Obviously, who wouldnt be . They get discovered by the pittsburgh courier, okay, and those of you who know the history of the black press know that aint nothing. When youre discovered by the pittsburgh courier. This is the newspaper that, you know, one black american support for entry into world war ii along with the boys, you know, with their vv campaign. If it werent for the pittsburgh courier, one could argue and some have, Jackie Robinson would not have made it into baseball. They played a monumental role in these things. When they adopted a family and built a crusade around them, it was huge. Okay. And so they find the nixon family, and they begin writing about them. And they follow them okay, so the family in very short order buries isaiah nixon. And then they flee. They flee to jacksonville, florida, where all those sally, isaiahs widow, is very upset. Whenever i say flee. She said we didnt flee. We werent in a hurry. We werent afraid. But they were afraid. Theres no other way to describe why they needed to get out there in a hurry. Okay. So we learn as much as we can from all of these records. And then like i said, we bring Dorothy Nixon to the class. And my students want to go down there, and i want them to go down there. Go to Montgomery County, do the research, do what we can. We go, and only three of them can go on the particular day when we go down in november 20th, 2015. And we go to the courthouse, and were doing a lot of searching. And this man shows up who i prearranged would show up, named james harris. And hes going to show us how to get to the cemetery. Okay. They know the cemetery where isaiah nixon was buried, but guess what. The family for 67 years has been unable to find his grave site. They know the cemetery. All they know is they buried him and they left. But they know that they bought a headstone, but they cant find it. Maybe they didnt put it up. They dont know. Others have gone there before to look for it. Okay. And the family has been coming back for years and cant find it. Its just this hole in their heart that theres no place they can stop and play tribute and homage and respect to isaiah nixon. We go down there and meet mr. Harris, james harris. And of course, the first question is, mr. Harris, in all these fbi records, theres a man whos voted that day in defiance of the sheriffelect named john harris. He says, that was my daddy. And he tells a fascinating story. That by the way, is layered with complications because he likes claude sharp, the sheriffelect. He said we didnt take that as a threat. We took it as a warning. That something is going down today. So it gets a little complicated. I dont want to spend too much time on that, but here the students are in the courthouse looking up records. Right there, theyre looking at old copies of the montgomery monitor, the weekly newspaper. It unveils nothing because of course they didnt cover the story. This is when a professor nearly dies on the spot. Look at my student, getting up on the ladder, and as you can see, the ladder is not fully open. Im like, lucy, get down from that thing. What . Get down, fast. But she does get up there, and theyre pulling these old ammo boxes that hold trifold records. All right, im going to move along here. So we go to mr. Harris shows us how to get to the cemetery. You know, its three miles its 17 miles outside of the county seat and three miles on a dirt road. And as were there, were just killing time, nobody has found the grave site in 67 years. Okay. And i say to mr. Harris, your daddy was buried here, right . I knew he was. He said yeah. I said would you show me his grave site. Im just killing time. The students are in awe of the cemetery and theyre walking around, and i happen to have my iphone on. Im not going to play it for you now. We would have to boost the sound. As mr. Harris is taking me to his daddys grave site, and all of a sudden you hear off to the side one of my students say i found it. We keep walking in deference to mr. Harris, hes taking us to his daddys grave site. Then suddenly you hear ellie studdard, one of my students, a biology major, wants to be a large animal vet saying, i think, i think, i think i found isaiah nixons grave site. Off to the side, she had seen a headstone thats been there forever. And she says what she had not noticed what the family had never noticed is there was a slab of cement that came off the headstone that covered isaiah nixon. By the time the family felt it was safe to come back, it was overgrown with grass, mud, under some gnarly old trees, had leaves covering it. As shes standing there, the wind had blown the leaves in such a way that in the top lefthand corner, she could see an i and an s. Let me get it closer here. Isai she knew he died september 10th, and pretty soon, were all on our hands and knees and i had a bunch of water in my car, and were trying to clear all this stuff out. We called his daughter. You know, facetimed her, and she knew how to do. By the way, of the six kids that isaiah and sally nixon had, four of them went off and got full Fouryear College degrees. And three of them got advanced degrees, and dorothy had gone to famu nursing, and then gone to the university of maryland, got her masters in nursing and had been a psychiatric nurse all her life. So just coming out of poor Montgomery County, it was and up against the odds. And then i just theres a closer. And then im going to close out here. That was november 20th, 2015. In january, dorothy was able to come up to the grave, to the cemetery. Her daughter had basketball coached an institution, and she waited until the season was over because she went to every one of her daughters games. And for the first time, she saw her fathers grave site since she was 6 years old. And she bent down and touched his name and just burst into tears. And buried her face in her sons chest, as anyone would. And then she had some remarks to make. So theres sound on this. Its a threeminute story. And then ill conclude. She will start to speak. The sound will get better. Its just so awful. I have never seen it as evil to find everything they could about my parents. I could see it from the very first time i met her at emory university. Your faces will always be in my mind. I heard the video that he sent. And then i heard i found it, i found it. It was amazing. They came here not to find daddys grave but just to visit the site in which he was buried. And they found it. That just shows you what a group of students they are. And theyre rare. To even want to do this, i saw them all on their knees, trying to clear off, and somebody saying, well, i found a bottle of water. Ill go get it. And clear off and thank you all. And the amount of information that you found, and i know you still have a lot to share with me. It is phenomenal. The whole thing, to me, is just surreal. It just is. And when you first called me, i had a lot still had a lot of anger, and i think i told you all i did. But after talking to your group, some of that was released. And i want to let you know now, its the anger thats completely gone. And thank you all for that. I can just resolve this. Its been settled. And then looking at this. Its just unreal. I cant say anymore. Thank you. Its just all coming in my mind is thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Shes now replaced the headstone with this. Two final thoughts. One, shortly after this, this is from my iphone, we did have a film, a video person there, but i didnt have time to i needed to get this up on our website really quickly. The wall street journal was there and they had a story coming up, and i had my daughter who does film editing, and i called her up in boston and said im shi im shipping you all my iphone. Can you help edit it. She did. It had her name, i guess. And we had to email her as the person who did the editing and the posting on the vimio, and a few days later, she calls me. She says dad, ive gotten an email from a man who says, i am the nephew of the men who killed that man. Who can i talk to . I said, wow. She said, dad, youve gotten me in too deep. So i did what i do. I turned it over to students who reached out to him. They said where do you live . He said jacksonville. Of all the lousy gin joints in the world, hes in the same city where dorothy lives. Okay. Well, i want you to know that he was calling because he knew none of this. And he is broken about it. Broken up, broken hearted by what his uncles did. And he wanted to apologize. And so last february, i and some students and someone im working with on a public Radio Station on another way of presenting this, went down and met with him. And he did apologize. You know. I did say to you also that we dont teach the who done it. But the why. This is very much about Students Learning a lot. The two men who killed him later pleaded, what, selfdefense, right. They say he pulled a gun. He didnt pull a gun on them. Okay. So students write papers on the reliability of the selfdefense alibi. The tendency of juries to think of, you know, to see black criminality. Why was there still all white juries 18 years after the scottsboro. Whatever it would be, theres a lot of different themes that come into play here. The concentration of rural power, of power in sheriffs at the time. Judicial conflicts of interest. The judge who presided over the trial in which these men were obviously acquitted. It turns out to be we have speeches he gave not only for gene talmadge fo but for Herman Talmadge in the same year as the trial. So its pervasive with academic opportunities and pathways. So thank you for your attention. Appreciate it. [ applause ] okay. Thank you both. We have time for some questions, please. Starting in the back here. I have a methodological question for you. I know that you said that you use as your primary sources for the class fbi files. And obviously, some newspaper documents and other things like that. But where do you get the names in the first place . How do you find who to go looking for . Well, the fbi documents will contain a lot of names. Thats, you know, one way. Then if you go deeper, we, you know, good lord, one of the most Amazing Things thats happened to academic researchers is the digitization of the naacp records. Oh, my lord. What was that, three, four years ago . Maybe its been longer. But my students when we started doing this went through microfilm with a not very good finding aid. So that helps. And dover carter, you know, i went and met with, of his ten kids, who moved to philadelphia, i went out to philadelphia and met with six of them. Theyre all in their 70s and 80s. And i peeled two of them off later and interviewed them again, and recently, we went down to the Family Reunion down there. And they all give you names, you know. I mean, i met james harris when i said to dorothy, you know, i just want you to know my students really want to go to the cemetery, and she says, you need to talk to james harris. And only james harris, even though hes got a different view or maybe because hes got a different view of the sheriffelect, is fascinating to us, and he gave us a lot of name then i got a call from a guy who is an attorney in athens and knew all the characters and wants to help us. I mean, theres still, you know, where my heart races is with the prospect that somewhere out there, the whoever was in the courtroom during the trial of the two men who were ultimately equitt equitted, theres a we never say stenographer, Court Reporter doing whatever she did, and i just have this idea that, you know, even though shes died, shes long since dead, that she turned over she had a big closet full of all of her notes from cases, and there was no transcript called up because there was no appeal. There was no appeal, its rare that you get a transcript, but shes then turned over the Court Reporting business to her daughter and her daughter did it to her daughter, and somewhere down in Montgomery County is a home that has an attic of these old hand written or punched tape transcripts of this case. And that we will some day finally get the testimony. I need to knock on about 3,000 more homes. Thanks. I just want to say those are two of the most powerful presentations at a conference i have ever seen. So im really grateful and impressed. Im grateful to the president , to the conference for not having me follow. Thank you. Those are amazing. I have a question for each of you. Tracy, the question for you is about political incentives. The people, it was a man who was introducing a bill to waive the poll tax. Hes from tennessee, and barkley who was fighting against the filibuster. Hes from kentucky. Thats not exactly who you would predict to take those positions. Is it because they have National Aspirations . Also, claude pepper, from florida. I dont know if i mentioned him, was one who was sponsoring this as well. Doesnt seem like they would be the most obvious people to be leading the crusade, per se. Kefalfer, i dont know. You know, its hard to talk about motivations. I would say with barkley, he termed it in terms of fairness. He wanted to make certain it wasnt about race. Thats why he included what this is doing to poor white people. But obviously, barkley had national ambitions. So did people like lyndon johnson. So for students, you cant with a broad brush all southern politicians and think theyre all theodore bill bilbos or richard russells. Its a lot more complicated, which of course, is what history usually is. That you just cant make this into a white or black kind of thing. Its a lot more complicated. I would just say in the short run. Right. So, hank, i wanted to ask you about the fbi. So one of the things thats interesting before and after world war ii is that before world war ii, there probably wouldnt have been any federal investigation. After world war ii, there is. But i wanted to know how seriously did the fbi take it . You know, youre going to get mixed reviews on this. The pressure seems to be coming out of washington from doj from an assistant attorney general. Where are we at . Where are we at . Its being handled more out of the Savannah Office rather than the atlanta office, and that can make a difference, as you know. There seems to be one assistant attorney in atlanta who said we should not get involved in this, we should not get involved because we will really mess up the state prosecution. As soon as we go in and we big foot, it will backfire, which may have been his cover too. He later does something that hurtful. That when we say that when the story lines about what happens to dover carter and what happened to isaiah nixon make their way that mentions the word conspiracy, because the same people who beat up dover carter and people related in the go out to isaiah nixon, the memo that goes up to hoover says they think this is a conspiracy and these should be viewed jointly, which would elevate its importance at the federal level. Hoover goes through the documents and deletes the word conspiracy and sends it back and says if you want go with the murder case, you can go with the murder case. But were not doing these together. We havent figured that out im very quick to say and Great Respect to my students. These are undergrads. And planning to be large animal vets. Although i will say gosh, that student ellie, this has changed her life. She is now she went and did an internship at the carter center. And i didnt know how to change a life until i was writing a recommendation, but she sent me her personal essay. And just yesterday i got a text from her that she got a was it a 188 out of 190 on her lsats. She is 99th percentile. So i dont think i answered all the question there. But anyway. The senator from tennessee ran for president unsuccessfully in 52 and 56 and was a runnerup to stevenson at one point and he was a chief sponsor of the 1957 i might have the year off by a year first civil rights act. So he had a consistent history in this regard. Maybe he thought it was the right thing to do. Which is not out of the question. Sometimes its not just political implications. Maybe you think we were talking last night about reconstruction and these amendments. Sometimes Representative Democracy comes down to good faith. Its easier to have an absolute monarchy to tell us what to do but when we have to do this ourselves, the right thing might not be what some people would want. But sometimes its good faith. A factual question for professor campbell. Do you have any information on the volume of the soldier vote in 1944 two years later . It was not very much i cant ive been working on 1942 so i would it wasnt great, lets put it that way. It was certainly bigger. Than 42. 42 was just abysmal, 2,000. But its easy to look up, i think. One last thing, if i might, going back to michaels question. The fbi after the trial and the doj are sending memos and say now that its over, we need to ascertain this is coming out of washington. We want you to ascertain was it a bona fide trial . And based on the interviews with people including the judge and it turns out the assistant u. S. Attorney in savannah who says it was a bona fide trial. Ive been knowing this judge all my life. Hes a fine, honorable man. He would never allow any miscarriage of justice in his courtroom, yada, yada, yada, they all withdraw. The feds withdraw completely but a student of mine found the speeches that the judge was giving in that same period of time on behalf of gene before and then Herman Talmadge. So we have some work to do on that. Im glad you mentioned pittsburgh courier. I write a column covering the Supreme Court in major issues for the black press writ large. So thank you for that. But the question i have is about the response from the white community. Because when medgar evers murder trial was reopened, i believe the third time, i was approached with the question by the media well, do you think that we should just let this lie because why reopen these old wounds . What response have you received from general response from the White Communities who have lived in these particular counties, have the children who are the children of the those who perpetrated these crimes living in the same county with the children who are the victims of the crimes and what have you seen to be the response from that . You know, i worked on a project south wide with people like Jerry Mitchell from the clarion ledger and Stanley Nelson down in faraday, louisiana and beforehand and came across more cases than ours. Several things come to mind. Yes it is the most difficult thing for many of these families is that those who didnt move from those towns as the woman from woodville, mississippi, says, i had to live in this town every day crossing the street, seeing men who i knew killed my daddy. And we had to live here. And on the James Frazier case, the guy killed in 1958 for driving a nice car, his sister talked about how she was a waitress in a restaurant near the courthouse, and the sheriff and the police would all come in there every day, and she was serving coffee to the men she knew killed her daddy, okay. And some people could move. But some couldnt. Okay, and it was horrible. So from an African American perspective, this was a daily torture. And so and there are people, theres a white editor of a newspaper down in Franklin County mississippi who we on the Charles Moore case who says you know, why are you looking into this . That was a long time ago and were getting along with our colored people now and all youre going to do is stir them up. And so you didnt ask for the benefit of what i think about that, but ill tell you. First of all, doug jones who prosecuted the two Birmingham Church murderers who hadnt been prosecuted in 7, and the fourth one died who of course is now the democratic nominee for the senate against roy moore in alabama, he used to when he would talk about his prosecution of the Birmingham Church bomb, people would ask him. He would say wait a second, you telling me this is when Osama Bin Laden was still alive, are you telling me if 40 years from now the marines find Osama Bin Laden living in a cave and hes just bedraggled and hes a skeleton and hes struggling to get up and theyve got him in chains and theyre walking are you going to say at that point, oh, come on, poor guy. Cant we just let bygones be bygones . He says youre not. Why would your response be different to james ford seal or sam bowers or any of these other guys . The other response that i give, and yall tell me, i think im right, i hope i am, i say were a very contentious nation here, were a nation of 50 sovereigns who whether in fact or in practice we have different laws for everything. Whether its drivers licenses or hunting seasons or whatever it would be, we have different laws governing everything. Were contentious. But the one thing every state agrees on, all 50 states, is that theres no statute of limitations on murder. We are unanimous on that. We are unanimous in our belief that no one who commits murder should ever sleep at night without worrying the next day there could be a knock on their door and they could be discovered for a murder they thought had long since been forgotten. So whether it doesnt matter if youre for whether youre for it or against it, thats the way it is right now. So i say that to sort of say to people so we are in agreement on that, that there should be a price to pay. And its the examination of these cases that leads to the payment of that price. Which, by the way, is almost entirely every single civil rights cold case that had been reprosecuted, reinvestigated, reprosecuted is because of a journalist. Not a single case and my friends who do the civil rights cold cases at syracuse law and northeastern law they kind of get like this a little bit sometimes and i said but its true. And i can tell you that after Alberto Gonzalez developed his Civil Rights Cold Case Initiative in 2006 2007 and they put together the list that he was asked, do you have a list of these cases, he says, um, im going to get you one. And he goes to the Southern Poverty Law Center and their list was never intended for big National Publication and its a messy list. Theyve got the three kids who are the Justice Department now has adopted a list that has the three students killed at South Carolina state in orangeburg in 1968 as being killed in orangeburg, georgia. There is none. The four People Killed in monroe, georgia, morris ford, theyve got two being killed in monroe, georgia and two in monroe, louisiana. I think theyve corrected it now because i wrote it in an oped. And i think that i never thought that the fbi was serious about anything other than closing the cases and trying to bring closure to the families, which is a good thing. Thank you so much for this presentation. Professor, ive got a methodological question as well. Im struck by an earlier question related to how difficult it can be too find these sorts of cases and the first thing that i thought was you could just talk to any black people over the age of 70 to find these cases, right . And so im wondering about the tension between these cases as individual as being framed as individual instances of violence, the tension between our propensity to think of individuals, individual victims and individual perpetrators, the tension between that and larger institutional and political realities. Right . This occurs in the context of jim crow and pervasive racial violence and stuff. So i was wondering, how do you navigate . How do you navigate that dynamic the project . It its tricky, but its doable. I mean, from one perspective a lot of it has to do with what because its a and i did teach this for several years with a professor of africanamerican studies and history, brett gadston, who has now since gone to northwestern. And i taught it a few times on my own, and im now teaching it back on my own. Its heavily a writing course. Okay . And were teaching if you write about James Brazier and you only write about James Brazier and you dont do the zoomout and you dont talk about leon whitlack and a page of africanamericans killed for their prosperity, specifically for driving nice cars, youre missing the point. And so that becomes something they have to study and they have to incorporate into their papers. From the other side, you know, from the side of the perpetrator, i dont know what possessed me. This year for the first class, maybe the second class, i had students sectioned off and doing an exercise. One group just the lyrics to and the song to bob dylans song only a pawn in their game which is about the medgar evers killing. In which he portrayed byron as part of the white elite. Of course he was a part of the white elite. But i remember very clearly when William Bradley huey went into sumner, massachusetts after the trial and he is interviewing the two lawyers who represented milam and bryant and he is writing these memos to his editor. These lawyers, they couldnt care less about milam and bryant. Theyve done the job. Theyve done the job they wanted them to do. And im not trying to paint it as entirely that. But i do want them to know that everyone represents something much larger than just themselves in that. I mean, were sorting through the difficulty of understanding why jimmy and johnny johnson, who grew up with isaiah nixon, jim had actually referred to him as his best friend, pulled out a gun and killed them. The family and the one thing the they sort of seek refuge, the family of the johnsons seek refuge is well, they were bad drinkers. They were known to get drunk. Maybe they were just drunk that day. Were not fully understanding it, but we are in pure sought of it. That matters, i think. Does that come close to answering . Okay. Thank you. Id like to thank our panelists for two very powerful and memorable presentations this morning, and thank speak for the audience, i learned so much. And i thank you for that. Thank you. [ applause ] cspans cities tour takes you to springfield, missouri on january 6th and 7th. While in springfield, were working with media com to explore the media scene of the birthplace of route 66 in southwestern missouri. On saturday, january 6th at noon eastern on book tv, author jeremy neely talks about the conflict occurring along the kansasmissouri border and the struggle over slavery in his book the border between them. In 1858, john brown had left kansas, comes back to the territory, and he begins a series of raids into western missouri during which his men will liberate enslaved people from missouri and help them scape to freedom. In the course of this, theyll kill a number of slave holders. And so the legend or the notoriety of john brown really grows as part of this struggle that people locally understand as the beginning of the civil war. Then sunday, january 7th at 2 00 p. M. On American History tv, we visit the nra National Sporting arms museum. Theodore roosevelt was probably our shootingest president. He was a very, very avid hunter. The first thing he did when he left office was organize and go on a very large hunting safari to africa. Now this particular rifle was prepared specifically for roosevelt. It has the president ial seal engraved on the breech. And of course roosevelt was famous for bull moose party. And there is a bull moose engraved on the side plate of this gun. Watch cspans cities tour. And on American History tv on cspan3. Working with our cable affiliates as we explore america. Cspan, where history unfolds daily. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. American history tv is in the classroom with a lecture by