Tougaloo Mansion

Audio:

Part 1
Part 1
Part 2
Part 2

Notes:

Virtually all speech, including Warren's, is intelligible though often faint.

Audio courtesy of Yale University.

Tougaloo College students

Date: 
1964
Related Documents: 
Tougaloo College students
Related Documents: 
Sylvia Davis
Related Documents: 
Betty Ann Poole
Related Documents: 
Memphis Norman
Related Documents: 
Halston Moore
Tougaloo College students Bio

Tougaloo College is a black private liberal arts college in Tougaloo, Mississippi (near Jackson), founded in 1869. An estimated 5-6 students are heard in the recording, one of whom is female. Some of the students identify themselves by name. They are identified as Tougaloo students in the Yale University Music Library Historical Sound Recordings collection.

 

Image: Tougaloo Mansion

Sylvia Davis Bio

Sylvia Davis is one of the students Warren interviewed at Tougaloo College.

Betty Ann Poole Bio

Betty Ann Poole is one of the students Warren interviewed at Tougaloo College. She participated in the first civil rights demonstrations in Jackson, MS, after the Freedom Rides, and was arrested for picketing in the main shopping district. In 1963, along with two other students, she attempted to de-segregate the all-white Capitol Street Methodist Church in Jackson. The students were arrested on the church steps, held in jail for a week, sent to trial with less than an hour's notice, and sentenced to a year in prison with a $1,000 fine. 

Memphis Norman Bio

Memphis Norman is one of the students Warren interviewed at Tougaloo College.

Halston Moore Bio

Halston Moore is one of the students Warren interviewed at Tougaloo College.

Abstract

 

The students discuss the recent trial of Byron de la Beckwith for the murder of civil rights worker Medgar Evers. The trial resulted in a hung jury, with five voting to convict and seven opposed. They discuss whether the trial could have been rigged. The students do not express unanimous certainty that the trial was corrupt. There is discussion of the fact that the vote by five white southerners for conviction is remarkable in and of itself. A female speaker expresses the opinion that if Beckwith is convicted in a later trial, he will not get the death penalty and will probably be pardoned after a short stay in prison. This speaker's skepticism leads Warren to probe the students on whether there can be an honest white southerner, stereotypes black people have about white people, and stereotypes they have of other black people. 

Transcript

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