University of Mississippi eGrove Archives & Special Collections: Finding Aids Library November 2020 Finding Aid for the John C. Satterfield/American Bar Association Collection (MUM00685) Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/finding_aids Recommended Citation John C. Satterfield/American Bar Association Collection (MUM00685). The Department of Archives and Special Collections, J.D. Williams Library, The University of Mississippi. This Finding Aid is brought to you for free and open access by the Library at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Archives & Special Collections: Finding Aids by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. University of Mississippi Libraries Finding-Aid for the John C. Satterfield/American Bar Association Collection MUM00685 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACCESS RESTRICTIONS Summary Information Open for research. This collection is stored at an off-site facility. Researchers interested in using this collection Biographical Note must contact Archives and Special Collections at least two business days in advance of their planned visit. Scope Note Administrative Information Return to Table of Contents » Related Materials Access Restrictions SUMMARY INFORMATION Biographical Sources Collection Inventory Repository University of Mississippi Libraries Title John C. Satterfield/American Bar Association Collection Date 1928-1974 1958-1970. Extent 25.0 Linear feet General Physical Description note 51 boxes & one oil portrait (78 linear feet). Location note Library Annex Abstract The John C. Satterfield Collection contains files related to Satterfield's involvement in the American Bar Association which he presided over from 1961-1962. The papers also include speeches and case files associated with his representation of Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett during the 1962 University of Mississippi integration crisis as well as consolidated cases of public school boards across Mississippi and the South seeking to delay desegregation. Preferred Citation John C. Satterfield/American Bar Association Collection (MUM00685). The Department of Archives and Special Collections, J.D. Williams Library, The University of Mississippi. Return to Table of Contents » BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE John C. Satterfield was born on 25 July 1904 in Port Gibson, Mississippi. His father was a Claiborne County attorney, and the son began working part-time in his father's office at the age of ten. Satterfield graduated from Port Gibson Junior College in 1924. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Millsaps College in 1926 and a law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1929. Satterfield supported himself at the last two institutions by working as a correspondent for the Associated Press, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, and the New Orleans Times-Picayune. While at Millsaps, he also served as state director of the YMCA. Admitted to the Mississippi bar in 1929, Satterfield joined the practice of Alexander & Alexander in Jackson. That same year, the twenty-year-old was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives where he remained until 1932. During this period, Satterfield helped to draft the law which governed the building of the state highway system, chaired the Constitution Committee, and served as secretary of the Judiciary Committee. In 1933, Satterfield married Ruth Quin with whom he had one son, John C. Satterfield Jr., and a daughter, Ellen Drake. In 1943, he married Mary Virginia Fly of Yazoo City, with whom he had a second daughter, Mary Laura. Satterfield became a partner of Alexander & Satterfield in 1935. In 1944, he left the firm to become the senior partner of Satterfield & Ewing (transformed to Satterfield, Ewing, Williams & Shell in 1950 and Satterfield, Shell, Williams & Buford in 1955). In 1976, Satterfield withdrew from his partnership to form Satterfield & Allred. Satterfield served as general counsel for Mississippi Chemical Corporation in Yazoo City from 1948 to 1976 and for First Mississippi Corporation in Jackson from 1957 to 1974. He has represented the State Highway Department and served as special counsel for the City of Jackson. In 1969, Time described Satterfield as "the most prominent segregationist lawyer in the country." Satterfield represented Governor Ross Barnett against federal obstruction charges in conjunction with the 1962 integration of the University of Mississippi. He drafted legislation for the Citizens' Councils and acted as counsel to the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, the Coordinating Committee for Fundamental American Freedoms, and the General Legislative Investigating Committee of the Mississippi Legislature which released a report on the 1962 University of Mississippi riot and the resulting campus occupation by federal troops. In 1969- 70, Satterfield served as special counsel for a number of public school districts across Mississippi and the South seeking to delay desegregation, a consolidated case that reached as high as the Supreme Court. Satterfield was a charter member and the second chairman of the Mississippi Bar's Young Lawyers section. He was president of the Mississippi State Bar in 1954-55, and during his tenure assisted in the passage of statutes that modernized court procedures and administration and established a minimum-fee schedule for the state's lawyers. An active member of the American Bar Association, Satterfield served on numerous committees over the years including: Rules & Calendar, Jurisprudence & Law Reform, Resolutions, Individual Rights as Affected by National Security, Continuing Legal Education, Awards to Media of Public Information, Economics of Law Practice (chair). He served on the organization's Board of Governors from 1955 through 1958 and represented Mississippi in the House of Delegates for twelve years. In August 1960, he became president-elect of the American Bar Association (the first Mississippian thus honored) and held the presidential office from 1961 through 1962. Satterfield was also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, served as director of the American Judicature Society, and was a charter member of Scribes (a society of authors on legal subjects). He also belonged to the American Law Institute, the International Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the American College of Probate Counsel, the Mississippi Defense Lawyers Association, the International Association of Insurance Counsel. Satterfield was a member of Phi Delta Phi, Beta Theta Pi, Omicron Delta Kappa, Sigma Epsilon, the Masons, the Rotary Club of Yazoo City, and the Kiwanis Club of Jackson. A Methodist, Satterfield attended both Galloway Memorial Church in Jackson and First Methodist Church in Yazoo City, serving on the General Board of Social & Economic Relations from 1952-1960; the general conference of 1952 & 1960; and the Southeast Jurisdictional Conference in 1952, 1956, and 1960; and presiding over the Jackson District Board of Missions & Extensions. Satterfield died on 5 May 1981 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His grave rests in Lakewood Memorial Park in Jackson. Return to Table of Contents » SCOPE NOTE The collection primarily consists of files Satterfield maintained relating to his American Bar Association activities in the 1950s and 1960s. Topics of these ABA files include various committees, Board of Governors, House of Delegates, correspondence, meetings, speeches, invitations, membership drives, public relations, clippings, and various subjects. In addition to the American Bar Association files, the collection also includes case files related to the 1962 integration of the University of Mississippi (when Satterfield represented Governor Ross Barnett), the integration of Yazoo City public schools, and consolidated cases of public schools across the South fighting integration in the late 1960s and early 1970s. While most of the inventory description is folder-level only, a selection of files related primarily to the integration of the University of Mississippi in 1962 possess an item-level description for each document in that file. Finally, the collection also includes files on speeches and subjects not related to the ABA, as well as an oil portrait of Satterfield by the artist Greystone. Return to Table of Contents » ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION Publication Information University of Mississippi Libraries 2007 Access Restrictions Open. This collection is stored at an off-site facility. Researchers interested in using this collection must contact Archives and Special Collections at least two business days in advance of their planned visit. Use Restriction The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use", that user may be liable for copyright infringement. Source of Collection The Law Center of the University of Mississippi received the bulk of the collection from John C. Satterfield in January 1981. One box of newspaper clippings followed in 1983. The University of Mississippi transferred responsibility for the collection to the Archives & Special Collections in July 2004. Processing