- Collection:
- Oral Histories of the American South: The Civil Rights Movement
- Title:
- Oral history interview with William Patrick Murphy, January 17, 1978
- Creator:
- Murphy, William P. (William Patrick), 1919-2007
- Contributor to Resource:
- Devereux, Sean
Southern Oral History Program - Date of Original:
- 1978-01-17
- Subject:
- Mississippi--Race relations
School integration--Mississippi
Lawyers--Mississippi
College teachers--Mississippi--Oxford
African Americans--Civil rights--Mississippi
Academic freedom--Mississippi
University of Mississippi - People:
- Murphy, William P. (William Patrick), 1919-2007
- Location:
- United States, Mississippi, Lafayette County, 34.35675, -89.48492
United States, Mississippi, Lafayette County, Oxford, 34.3665, -89.51925 - Medium:
- transcripts
sound recordings
oral histories (literary works) - Type:
- Text
Sound - Format:
- text/html
text/xml
audio/mpeg - Description:
- 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. - Metadata URL:
- http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/B-0043/menu.html
- Language:
- eng
- Extent:
- 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. - Contributing Institution:
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project)
- Rights:
-
