noa_sohpcr_b-0043 b-0043 sohpcr noa yes Oral history interview with William Patrick Murphy, January 17, 1978 Murphy, William P. (William Patrick), 1919-2007 Devereux, Sean Mississippi--Race relations School integration--Mississippi Lawyers--Mississippi College teachers--Mississippi--Oxford African Americans--Civil rights--Mississippi Academic freedom--Mississippi University of Mississippi Murphy, William P. (William Patrick), 1919-2007 In the 1950s, lawyer William Patrick Murphy fought what he describes as a relatively understated battle against segregation. In letters, law journal articles, and in his constitutional law class at the University of Mississippi, Murphy argued for the wisdom of the Brown decision and against the states' rights rationale that many white Mississippians were using to delay integration. His support for integration put him under tremendous pressure from segregationist Mississippians, and after a four-year struggle to keep his job, he left the University. He describes that struggle in this interview, all the while downplaying his contributions to racial justice in Mississippi. This reflective interview will be useful for, among others, researchers interested in white southerners who sought to undo segregation. The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the aggregation and enhancement of partner metadata. [Chapel Hill, N.C.] : University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill. Southern Oral History Program University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library Oral histories of the American South (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project)) 2007 Transcripts Sound recordings Oral histories http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/B-0043/menu.html Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 100 kilobytes, 113 megabytes. Mode of access: World Wide Web. System requirements: Web browser with Javascript enabled and multimedia player. MP3 format / ca. 113 MB, 01:01:48 Title from menu page (viewed on Oct. 24, 2008). Interview participants: William Patrick Murphy, interviewee; Sean Devereux, interviewer. Duration: 01:01:48. This electronic edition is part of the UNC-Chapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American South. It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South. Text encoded by Jennifer Joyner. Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers. Forms part of Oral histories of the American South collection. 1978-01-17 Oxford (Miss.) Lafayette County (Miss.) 20090730 161148