Voices of Civil Rights Lawyers - by Kent Spriggs (Paperback)

About the Book

While bus boycotts, sit-ins, and other acts of civil disobedience were the engine of the civil rights movement, the law was a primary context. Lawyers played a key role amid profound social upheavals, and the twenty-six contributors to this volume reveal what it was like to be a southern civil rights lawyer in this era.

Book Synopsis

Choice Outstanding Academic Title 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. Contributors: Henry M. Aronson Larry Aschenbrenner Fred Banks Reber Boult John C. Brittain Armand Derfner Jack Drake Malcolm ("Mac") Farmer William Ferguson Fred D. Gray Jim Lewis Elliott Lichtman Barbara Schechter Lipman David Lipman Don H. Marmaduke John L. Maxey Laughlin McDonald Larry Menefee Dennis Roberts Solomon Seay Norman Siegel Constance "Connie" Slaughter-Harvey Richard Sobol, Sebastopol Richard H. Tuttle

Review Quotes

"Fascinating. . . . The kind of book you can open anywhere, maybe thumb back or forth a few pages, and settle into a good story."--USA Today "Equal parts stunning, eye-opening, overwhelming, and, ultimately, very necessary to read and comprehend. Essential."--Choice "An important reminder of the critical role attorneys played in the civil rights movement."--Post and Courier "We owe much to the pioneering work of this generation of civil rights lawyers who translated their moral and political beliefs into representation of those most in need of legal services. . . . Kent Spriggs has given voice to those who helped secure some semblance of equal justice in that critical historical period."--Civil Rights Litigation Handbook "Capture[s] important reflections and memories about the legal struggle for civil rights in the South. Spriggs and his contributors offer significant firsthand accounts of the movement's background, context, and strategy that provide a rich archive for scholars interested in civil rights, activist lawyering, and the South."--Journal of Southern History