Hugo Black of Alabama is based, in part, on audio sources - taped interviews, speeches, and broadcasts. Here is a sampler of the voices and circumstances of the book's subject and sources. These excerpts convey a particular sense of the person and personality that a printed book can not adequately convey.
Listen to the audio clips in Real Media Player by clicking the name of the person. Because most clips come from cassette tapes not created for telecast, the quality varies.
Hugo Black: Birmingham Homecoming, July 1970
At his Birmingham homecoming of July 1970, Justice Hugo Black recalls his family's origins in Ireland and wonders out loud if his friend, US District Judge Frank M. Johnson, "is Irish·" (MP3-1 minute: 40 seconds)
Hugo Black and Brown v. Board of Education
In 1968, CBS broadcast Justice Black and the Bill of Rights. During the hour-long interview, journalist Martin Agronsky asked Black about whether he believes judges should rule according to the "temper of the times." Here Agronsky follows up by asking Black about the Supreme Court's change of the interpretation in Brown v. Board of Education. (MP3-1 minute: 57 seconds)
Barney Whatley - Clay County
Barney Whatley was one of Hugo Black's earliest and lifelong friends. Whatley grew up with Black in Clay County, practiced law with him in Birmingham, and kept up a friendship until Black's death. This clip comes from Whatley's interview with Charles Morgan, Jr., about "old Dave Castleberry," one of the Populist newspapermen of Clay County. (MP3-1 minute: 51 seconds)
Virginia Durr: "What Birmingham Was Like When Hugo Got Into Alabama Politics"
Virginia Foster Durr was Hugo Black's sister-in-law and, on her own right, one of the grand women whose work to make the South better began in the New Deal of the 1930s. In this clip, Durr describes for Charles Morgan, Jr., what Birmingham was like when Hugo got into Alabama politics." (MP3-2 minutes)
Crampton Harris - Black as a Birmingham Lawyer
Crampton Harris was Hugo Black's law partner in Birmingham after World War I, where Colonel Harris was in charge of training Black as an officer. In this clip, Harris assesses Black's role as a plaintiff lawyer and, in his own way, says almost as much about Harris as he does Black. (MP3-1 minute: 28 seconds)
James Esdale - Remembers Klan's Start in Alabama
James Esdale was the head of the Birmingham area klavern in the early 1920s before he became the state wizard by the mid'20s. Here Esdale recalls how the Alabama Klan was originally set up "by old Col. Simmons" (MP3- 57 seconds) |
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