DOCSLIB.ORG

Workers Defense League Records

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Workers Defense League Records Guide to the Workers' Defense League Records LR000408 This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on September 26, 2019 English. Describing Archives: A Content Standard :DOWHU35HXWKHU/LEUDU\ &DVV$YHQXH 'HWURLW0, 85/KWWSVUHXWKHUZD\QHHGX Guide to the Workers' Defense League Records LR000408 Table of Contents Summary Information .................................................................................................................................... 4 History ............................................................................................................................................................ 4 Scope and Content ......................................................................................................................................... 5 Arrangement ................................................................................................................................................... 9 Administrative Information ............................................................................................................................ 9 Controlled Access Headings ........................................................................................................................ 10 Index of Correspondence ............................................................................................................................. 10 Collection Inventory ..................................................................................................................................... 17 Series I: Administrative files .................................................................................................................... 17 Subseries A: Boards and committees ..................................................................................................... 17 Subseries B: Financial records ............................................................................................................... 19 Subseries C: Fund appeals ..................................................................................................................... 19 Subseries D: Correspondence files ......................................................................................................... 20 Series II: General files .............................................................................................................................. 24 Series III: Special projects, campaigns and committees ........................................................................... 83 Subseries A: Commission of Inquiry into Forced Labor ....................................................................... 83 Subseries B: Norman Thomas and the Leaflet Campaign in Hague's New Jersey ................................ 91 Subseries C: The Terre Haute Defense Committee, 1935-1936 ............................................................ 91 Subseries D: Campaign for a Permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission .............................. 92 Subseries E: Longshoreman's Jobs Defense Committee, WDL ............................................................. 92 Subseries F: White Paper for Labor, 1958-1962 ................................................................................... 93 Subseries G: Committee for the Defense of Civil Rights in Tampa (Florida), 1935-1939 .................... 94 Subseries H: Committee to Defend Franco's Labor Victims, 1950-1953 and the Ferrerro-Sallitto Defense Conference, 1935-1938 ........................................................................................................................... 95 Series IV: Workers Defense League Joint Apprenticeship Program, 1962-1971 ..................................... 95 Series V: Farm workers, migrant workers, sharecroppers and their unionization .................................... 96 Subseries A: Farm Workers, 1936-1954 ................................................................................................ 96 Subseries B: Farm workers and migrant workers, 1940-1961 ............................................................... 97 Subseries C: Farm workers' and farmers' strikes, 1947-1955 ................................................................ 97 Subseries D: Southern Tenant Farmers Union (STFU) ......................................................................... 98 Subseries E: National Farm Labor Union and National Agricultural Workers Union, 1945-1960 ...... 103 Subseries F: National Sharecroppers Week and Fund, 1936-1969 ...................................................... 104 Subseries G: Peonage in America ........................................................................................................ 104 - Page 2 - Guide to the Workers' Defense League Records LR000408 Series VI: Immigration and deportation ................................................................................................. 106 Series VII: Special cases ......................................................................................................................... 106 Series VIII: Academic freedom cases, 1936-1965 ................................................................................. 107 Series IX: Civil Rights and racial discrimination cases, 1936-1965 ...................................................... 108 Series X: Strike cases .............................................................................................................................. 108 Series XI: Union democracy cases ......................................................................................................... 110 Series XII: Workers defense cases (defense of workers) ....................................................................... 110 Series XIII: General cases ....................................................................................................................... 111 Series XIV: Loyalty and security cases, and conscientious objection .................................................... 112 Subseries A: Conscientious objection .................................................................................................. 112 Subseries B: Loyalty and security ........................................................................................................ 113 Series XV: Military and conscription cases ........................................................................................... 115 Series XVI: Publicity .............................................................................................................................. 116 Series XVII: Miscellaneous .................................................................................................................... 120 - Page 3 - Guide to the Workers' Defense League Records LR000408 Summary Information Repository: Walter P. Reuther Library Creator: Workers Defense League Title: Workers' Defense League Records ID: LR000408 Date [inclusive]: 1935-1971 Physical Description: 136.25 Linear Feet (274 MB, 1 OS), 19 reels Language of the English Material: Language of the Material entirely in English. Material: Abstract: This collection of correspondence, press releases, newspaper clippings, speeches, trial briefs and transcripts, and published pamphlets and leaflets, thoroughly documents the Worker's Defense League's efforts to obtain justice for labor organizers, government critics, victims of racial and economic discrimination, and conscientious objectors, through established, legal processes. Citation Style "Workers' Defense League Records, Box [#], Folder [#], Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University" ^ Return to Table of Contents History Founded on August 29, 1936, the WDL was rooted in a nucleus of prior groups, including various chapters of the Labor and Socialist Defense Committee. The suppression of the 1935 strike in Terre Haute, Indiana, the murder of Joseph Shoemaker, an organizer in Tampa, Florida, the cotton choppers' strike in Arkansas, the arrests in New Jersey of people handing out leaflets, and other such incidents, showed the need for an organization to champion the causes of workers in the interest of social and economic justice, and to give such assistance to workers without political cause or party label attached. The Workers Defense League became such an organization. - Page 4- Guide to the Workers' Defense League Records LR000408 Through the years the WDL expanded its activities; it was the legal arm and financial backer of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union; gave assistance on immigration and deportation cases, loyalty-security cases, passports, refugees, conscientious objectors, civil rights, union democracy, minority apprenticeship training, military and conscription cases, and many more. ^ Return to Table of Contents Scope and Content Important subjects: Academic Freedom Army Jim Crowism Attorney General's List J. R. Butler Civil Liberties Civil Rights David Clendenin Committee to Defend Civil Rights in Tampa Committee to Defend Franco's Labor Victims Committee of Inquiry into Forced Labor (UN) Conscientious Objection Conscription Tee Davis Case Deportations Discrimination Farm Workers Farm Unions FEPC Ferrero-Sallitto Defense Committee Carl Gilmore Case Groveland (Fla.) Cases Francis Heisler Albert Herling Immigration Clarence Jackson Case Joint Apprenticeship Program Ku Klux Klan Leaflet Distribution Fights Alton Levy Case Longshoremen's Jobs Defense Committee Loyalty and Security
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Socialist Party of America Papers: a Resource Guide
    Socialist Party of America Papers: A Resource Guide Compiled by Eric Arnesen, Professor of History, The George Washington University proquest.com To talk to the sales department, contact us at 1-800-779-0137 or [email protected]. Introduction From the dawn of the twentieth century through the 1960s, would be emancipated. The result would be the “birth of a new the Socialist Party of America represented an intellectually civilization and the dawn of a happier day for all humanity.” vibrant tendency in American political thought and a dynamic That was the utopian dream. The reality was more current in the radical and reform movements in the nation. complicated. The Socialist Party never swept to power; it never The Socialist Party, declared Eugene V. Debs in his acceptance succeeded in its declared mission of overturning capitalism, speech as the party’s presidential candidate in 1912, “is abolishing private ownership of the nation’s factories, mills, fundamentally different from all other parties… Its spirit is and mines, and ushering in the “collective ownership and militant and its aim revolutionary,” for it “expresses in political democratic management” of railroads, telegraphs and terms the aspiration of the working class to freedom and telephones, land, banking sectors of the economy; and its to a larger and fuller life than they have yet known.” Debs, a presidential candidates never won more than a small fraction former locomotive fireman and union leader, was perhaps of the vote. Yet its vision of capitalism’s abolition terrified the most prominent Socialist in the United States. An leading politicians and industrial leaders.
    [Show full text]
  • Workers Defense League Records
    THE WORKERS DEFENSE LEAGUE COLLECTION Papers, 1935 - 1971 134 1/2 lineal feet Accession No. 408 The Workers Defense League placed its historic papers in the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs in August, 1970, and further additions have been received since then. Founded on August 29, 1936, the WDL was rooted in a nucleus of prior groups, including various chapters of the Labor and Socialist Defense Committee. The suppression of the 1935 strike in Terre Haute, Indiana, the murder of Joseph Shoemaker, an organizer in Tampa, Florida, the cotton choppers' strike in Arkansas, the arrests in New Jersey of people handing out leaflets, and other such incidents, showed the need for an organization to champion the causes of workers in the interest of social and economic justice, and to give such assistance to workers without political cause or party label attached. The Workers Defense League became such an organization. Through the years the WDL expanded its activities; it was the legal arm and financial backer of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union; gave assistance on immigration and deportation cases, loyalty-security cases, passports, refugees, conscientious objectors, civil rights, union democracy, minority apprenticeship training, military and conscription cases, and many more. Note: The Workers Defense League gave some files of Conscientious Objector Cases (1945-1948) to the Swarthmore Peace Library at Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. They are filed there under "Metropolitan Board for Conscientious Objectors." Other Conscientious Objector cases are included here. Norman Thomas, David Clendenin, George S. Counts, Harry Fleischman, Aron Gilmartin, Albert K. Herling, Morris Milgram, Rowland Watts, and Vera Rony were only a few of the active officers, others to be found in the correspondents list below.
    [Show full text]
  • Lessons for Advocacy from the Life and Legacy of the Reverened Doctor Pauli Murray
    University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class Volume 20 Issue 1 Article 2 Lessons for Advocacy from the Life and Legacy of the Reverened Doctor Pauli Murray Florence Wagman Roisman Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/rrgc Part of the Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Education Law Commons, Human Rights Law Commons, Law and Gender Commons, Law and Race Commons, and the Law and Society Commons Recommended Citation Florence W. Roisman, Lessons for Advocacy from the Life and Legacy of the Reverened Doctor Pauli Murray, 20 U. Md. L.J. Race Relig. Gender & Class 1 (2020). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/rrgc/vol20/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Academic Journals at DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ROISMAN LESSONS FOR ADVOCACY FROM THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF THE REVEREND DOCTOR PAULI MURRAY* ** BY FLORENCE WAGMAN ROISMAN PROPHECY I sing of a new American Separate from all others, Yet enlarged and diminished by all others. I am the child of kings and serfs, freemen and slaves, Having neither superiors nor inferiors, Progeny of all colors, all cultures, all systems, all beliefs. I have been enslaved, yet my spirit is unbound. I have been cast aside, but I sparkle in the darkness. I have been slain but live on in the rivers of history.
    [Show full text]
  • The Interdependence of Personal and Political Influences on Eleanor Roosevelt’S Civil Rights Activism
    Learning by Living: The Interdependence of Personal and Political Influences on Eleanor Roosevelt’s Civil Rights Activism By DANIELLE MAY MASSARO A thesis submitted to the Graduate School-Newark Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Master of History Federated Department of History Written under the direction of Ruth Feldstein And approved by _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ Newark, New Jersey January 2020 ©2020 Danielle May Massaro ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS Learning by Living: The Interdependence of Personal and Political Influences on Eleanor Roosevelt’s Civil Rights Activism by DANIELLE MAY MASSARO Thesis Director: Ruth Feldstein While there are many books, articles, and other resources that discuss Eleanor Roosevelt’s life, work, and contributions to the causes of social, economic, and political equality in the United States, few consider at length the impact that her personal relationships with civil rights activists had on her political evolution over the course of her life. Recent biographies have acknowledged these relationships but do not delve deeply into the ways that Roosevelt was influenced over time by the interdependence between the external events of the outside world and the friendships that she formed with activists such as NAACP Executive Director Walter White, stateswoman and educator Mary McLeod Bethune, and most significantly, the lawyer, educator, and writer, Pauli Murray. To this end, this thesis will examine Roosevelt’s political and public writings, her personal correspondence, Pauli Murray’s autobiographies, oral history interviews, and correspondence with others, as well as secondary sources, including books, articles, essays, and other scholarship on Eleanor Roosevelt, her friendships and political relationships, and the same on Murray and her life, work, and identity.
    [Show full text]
  • Scottsboro Michael J
    Marquette Law Review Volume 93 Issue 2 Symposium: Criminal Appeals: Past, Present, Article 3 and Future Scottsboro Michael J. Klarman Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/mulr Part of the Law Commons Repository Citation Michael J. Klarman, Scottsboro, 93 Marq. L. Rev. 379 (2009). Available at: http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/mulr/vol93/iss2/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Marquette Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Marquette Law Review by an authorized administrator of Marquette Law Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SCOTTSBORO MICHAEL J. KLARMAN* I. INTRODUCTION One of America‘s most infamous legal episodes began on March 25, 1931. Nine black youths from Georgia and Tennessee were accused of raping two white women on a freight train in northern Alabama. In hastily arranged trials, eight of them received death sentences. Their appeals, retrials, and subsequent legal proceedings riveted the attention of the nation and the world and ultimately produced two Supreme Court rulings in their favor and nearly twenty years of legal wrangling. Known to history as Scottsboro, this episode teaches several lessons relevant to students of American constitutional law and history. The Scottsboro Cases illuminate why the modern revolution in American criminal procedure began mainly with cases involving black criminal defendants from the South. The episode also reveals how Supreme Court interventions in southern race cases tended to incite political backlashes that undermined implementation of the Court‘s decisions—thus making Scottsboro an important forerunner of Brown v.
    [Show full text]
  • John Dewey and the Question of Race: the Fight for Odell Waller
    John Dewey and the Question of Race: The Fight for Odell Waller Sam F. Stack, Jr. Abstract In an attempt to better understand the complexity of American racism and democ- racy, this paper explores racism through the plight of an African American share- cropper, Odell Waller, and the reaction and involvement of John Dewey, America's most liberal democratic philosopher of the 20th century. This exploration delves into the nature of American justice in one of the most diffi cult struggles in our history, the late years of the Depression and the early years of World War II. Fur- thermore, the paper traces Dewey's limited discussion of race and his involvement in attacking racism in American society. History teaches us that American democratic values can be undermined by racism and prejudice. In an America becoming more culturally diverse, racism and cultural suspicion again cast a shadow over the landscape. While much of the suspicion can be attributed to the September 11 attacks, America has a long history of refusing the poor, people of color, and the culturally diverse the American dream—equality of opportunity. In an attempt to better understand the complexity of American rac- ism and democracy, this paper explores racism through the plight of an African American sharecropper, Odell Waller, and the reaction and involvement of John Dewey, America's most liberal democratic philosopher of the twentieth century. The Waller case provides a context for the exploration of Dewey's thought on race during one of the most diffi cult struggles in our history, the late years of the De- pression and the early years of World War II.
    [Show full text]
  • "It Is a New Kind of Militancy": March on Washington Movement, 1941-1946
    University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Open Access Dissertations 5-2010 "It is a new kind of militancy": March on Washington Movement, 1941-1946 David Lucander University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations Part of the African American Studies Commons Recommended Citation Lucander, David, ""It is a new kind of militancy": March on Washington Movement, 1941-1946" (2010). Open Access Dissertations. 247. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations/247 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “IT IS A NEW KIND OF MILITANCY”: MARCH ON WASHINGTON MOVEMENT, 1941‐1946 A Dissertation Presented by DAVID LUCANDER Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY MAY 2010 AFRO‐AMERICAN STUDIES © Copyright by David Lucander 2010 All Rights Reserved “IT IS A NEW KIND OF MILITANCY”: MARCH ON WASHINGTON MOVEMENT, 1941‐1946 A Dissertation Presented by DAVID LUCANDER Approved, as to style and content by: ______________________________________________ John Bracey, Chair _____________________________________________ James Smethurst, Member _____________________________________________ Ernest Allen, Member _____________________________________________ Dayo Gore, Member _____________________________________________ Amilcar Shabazz, Department Chair Afro‐American Studies DEDICATION To the late Howard Zinn, for inspiring a generation of historians. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project was substantially improved by a number of individuals and institutions. Like any graduate student, I am beholden to my dissertation committee: John H.
    [Show full text]
  • The Writings of Virginius Dabney on Matters of Race
    W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1987 Justice, Patience, Reason: The Writings of Virginius Dabney on Matters of Race Bruce Alan Brown College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the Ethnic Studies Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Brown, Bruce Alan, "Justice, Patience, Reason: The Writings of Virginius Dabney on Matters of Race" (1987). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539625417. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-6zpq-fy67 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. JUSTICE, PATIENCE, REASON: THE WRITINGS OF VIRGINIUS DABNEY ON MATTERS OF RACE A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History The Collage of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts By Bruce Alan Brown 1987 APPROVAL SHEET This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requi rements for the degree of Master of Arts Author Approved, September 1987 Richard B. Sherman tWsn C . UjOlUc c t Helen C. Walker JoU lsJ j) Ql. Philip J,/Fu/iigiel lo J TO MARY, who understood the importance of completing this task TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................................................................................................................... v ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................vi INTRODUCTION............................................................................................ 2 CHAPTER ONE. ANCESTRY, CHILDHOOD, YOUTH ...........................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The African American History Collection
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf309nb0bw No online items INVENTORY OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY COLLECTION Processed by Victoria Yturralde; machine-readable finding aid created by Jim Sylva Department of Special Collections General Library University of California at Davis Davis, CA 95616-5292 Phone: (530) 752-1621 Fax: (530) 754-5758 Email: [email protected] © 1995 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. INVENTORY OF THE AFRICAN D-207 1 AMERICAN HISTORY COLLECTION INVENTORY OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY COLLECTION Collection number: D-207 Department of Special Collections General Library University of California, Davis Davis, California Contact Information Department of Special Collections General Library University of California at Davis Davis, CA 95616-5292 Phone: (530) 752-1621 Fax: (530) 754-5758 Email: [email protected] Processed by: Victoria Yturralde Date Completed: September 1995 Encoded by: Jim Sylva © 1995 Descriptive Summary Title: THE AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY COLLECTION Date (inclusive): Collection number: D-207 Origination: Extent: 7 linear feet in 7 archive boxes Repository: University of California, Davis. General Library. Dept. of Special Collections. Davis, California Shelf location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Special Collections Department. Language: English. Provenance The African American History Collection was created as a subject collection nearly 30 years ago, beginning with a block purchase from Walter Goldwater in New York in 1967. Materials have been added in the form of donations and purchases since that time. Access Collection is open for research. Publication Rights The Library can only claim physical ownership of the African American History Collection.
    [Show full text]
  • Lessons for Advocacy from the Life and Legacy of the Reverened Doctor Pauli Murray
    ROISMAN LESSONS FOR ADVOCACY FROM THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF THE REVEREND DOCTOR PAULI MURRAY* ** BY FLORENCE WAGMAN ROISMAN PROPHECY I sing of a new American Separate from all others, Yet enlarged and diminished by all others. I am the child of kings and serfs, freemen and slaves, Having neither superiors nor inferiors, Progeny of all colors, all cultures, all systems, all beliefs. I have been enslaved, yet my spirit is unbound. I have been cast aside, but I sparkle in the darkness. I have been slain but live on in the rivers of history. I seek no conquest, no wealth, no power, no revenge; I seek only discovery Of the illimitable heights and depths of my own being. -Pauli Murray (Dark Testament and Other Poems)1 Many lessons may be drawn from the life and work of Anna Pauline Murray, who was known to the world as Pauli Murray. Part I of © 2020 Florence Wagman Roisman * This article is dedicated to the memory of my dear friend, Leslie Davis Brown. See Jacques Kelly, Leslie Brown, Psychoanalyst and Social Activist, Dies, Nov. 19, 2019. Brilliant, wise, generous, adventuresome, Leslie was the wife of Professor Emeritus C. Christopher Brown of the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. ** William F. Harvey Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Professor, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. I am deeply indebted to the late Professor Mary Harter Mitchell, who taught me (and many others) a great deal about human decency, advocacy, Pauli Murray, and much else; and to Professor Beth Harris and her sister Suzy Harris, Esq.
    [Show full text]
  • John Dewey and His Evolving Perceptions of Race Issues in American Democracy Audrey Cohan Ed.D Molloy College, [email protected]
    Molloy College DigitalCommons@Molloy Faculty Works: Education Spring 2017 John Dewey and his Evolving Perceptions of Race Issues in American Democracy Audrey Cohan Ed.D Molloy College, [email protected] Charles F. Howlett h.DP . Molloy College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.molloy.edu/edu_fac Part of the Education Commons DigitalCommons@Molloy Feedback Recommended Citation Cohan, Audrey Ed.D and Howlett, Charles F. Ph.D., "John Dewey and his Evolving Perceptions of Race Issues in American Democracy" (2017). Faculty Works: Education. 24. https://digitalcommons.molloy.edu/edu_fac/24 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Molloy. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Works: Education by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Molloy. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. Teaching Social Studies: Vol. 17, No. 1, Winter-Spring 2017 John Dewey and his Evolving Perceptions of Race Issues in American Democracy Charles F. Howlett & Audrey Cohan, Molloy College the adoption of the narrower meaning of efficiency Although the election of America’s first African- deprives it of its essential justification” (Dewey, American President offered a glimmer of hope, 1916, p. 122). Despite Dewey’s own firmly held change, and potential for social justice issues to beliefs influenced by the time period in which he impact diverse minorities in America, the lived, he was nonetheless conscious of the emergence of the Black Lives Matter Movement disconnection between racial prejudice and the true continues to resonate among people of color who nature of American democracy.
    [Show full text]
  • Martinsville Seven and Southern Justice: Race, Crime, and Capital Punishment in Virginia, 1949-1951
    THE MARTINSVILLE SEVEN AND SOUTHERN JUSTICE: RACE, CRIME, AND CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN VIRGINIA, 1949-1951 By ERIC WALTER RISE A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 1992 — ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Several years ago, long before my hairline receded and my waistline expanded, Kermit Hall suggested that the Martinsville Seven case might make an interesting topic for a research paper. The case raised issues of cold war politics, civil rights and civil liberties, and the administration of criminal justice, all topics that interested me, so I heeded his advice. The project has grown considerably since then, and Professor Hall must receive much of the credit for that transformation. Throughout this endeavor he has tendered useful advice, dispensed timely and constructive criticism, and continually assured me that I had undertaken a worthwhile project. His support extended beyond matters of the dissertation as well, and he eased many of the stresses of graduate school education. The other members of my supervisory committee David Colburn, Michael Radelet, John Sommerville, Anne Spitzer, and Robert Zieger—also displayed an extraordinary amount of interest in my work. Their collective advice, representing a broad range of disciplinary and methodological perspectives, greatly improved my scholarship. The practice of history is a collegial endeavor, and several scholars graciously volunteered information that enhanced the quality of the dissertation. In the early stages of the project Charles H. Martin saved me untold hours of research by directing me to most of the pertinent archival collections.
    [Show full text]