Thomas Armstrong participated in the Freedom Rides in 1961. He says that one of Ross Barnett’s speeches encouraged him to participate in the Freedom Rides, because Barnett said that Mississippian’s were happy with the present conditions. The video was filmed for the documentary The Children Shall Lead (link).

Thomas Madison Armstrong III from Winter Institute on Vimeo.

His oral history may also be viewed here.

Interview Data

Name of Interviewee: Thomas Madison Armstrong III

Date: November 10, 2001

Place of Interview: Jackson, MS

Born in 1923 in Grenada, Mississippi, William F. Winter served in the armed forces in World War II and the Korean War. He was awarded a BA from the University of Mississippi in 1943 and an LL.B. in 1949. He has since been awarded over five honorary degrees. His credentials within the academic community are long standing: Jamie Whitten Professor of Law and Government at the University of Mississippi School of Law (Fall 1989); Eudora Welty Professor of Southern Studies at Millsaps College (Spring 1989); Fellow, Institute of Politics, Harvard University (1985) and President, Ole Miss Alumni Association (1978). He continues to practice law with the Jackson, MS, firm of Watkins Ludlum Winter & Stennis, P.A. which celebrated its one hundredth anniversary in 2005.

William Winter is most well known, however, for his role in leading the charge for publicly-funded primary education while he was the fifty-eighth governor of Mississippi from 1980-1984. His governance echoed his belief that all people, regardless of race or class, should be entitled to the same rights and privileges as the most privileged enjoys. In a substantial way, Governor Winter’s accomplishments were honored in 1997 when President Bill Clinton initiated “One America,” an unprecedented national conversation on race. Winter served on the board of One America, helping to bring the only deep-South public forum to the University of Mississippi. President Bill Clinton has called Winter a “great champion of civil rights.” Positive changes stem from great leadership, and William Winter is one of many guiding lights for Mississippi and America.

In 2002 on his 80th birthday, the Institute for Racial Reconciliation at the University of Mississippi was renamed the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation in his honor. On May 12, 2008, Governor Winter was honored at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. Click here to read his acceptance speech.

Start here for video of Gov. William Winter:

Gov William Winter on his childhood from Winter Institute on Vimeo.

Other videos featuring Gov. Winter can be viewed here:
Open Doors and John Hope Franklin Lecture
Gov William Winter on his childhood
Gov William Winter on his grandfather and the Confederacy
Gov William Winter on inequitable education in Mississippi during his childhood

Source: 

“About Us.” William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation. U of Mississippi. http://www.winterinstitute.org/pages/aboutus.htm.

Sandra Nixon participated in the Freedom Rides in 1961. This video was filmed for the documentary The Children Shall Lead (link).

Sandra Nixon from Winter Institute on Vimeo.

Her oral history may also be viewed here.

Interview Data

Name of Interviewee: Sandra Nixon

Date: November, 2001

Place of Interview: Jackson, MS

Robert Singleton participated in the Freedom Rides in 1961. He describes being arrested in Jackson and the conditions in the city jail. The oral history was filmed for the documentary The Children Shall Lead (link).

Robert Singleton from Winter Institute on Vimeo.

His oral history may also be viewed here.

Interview Data

Name of Interviewee: Dr. Robert Singleton

Date: November 8, 2001

Place of Interview: Jackson, MS

Carsie Hall, Jack Young, and R. Jess Brown were the only African American lawyers who were licensed to practice in the state in the early 1960s. They often served as local counsel with out-of-state attorneys who had not been admitted to the Mississippi bar.

Sources:

“Civil Rights Driving Tour of Hinds County”produced by the Associated Press, Tougaloo College, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and the Mississippi Development Authority (Tourism Division).

United States Representative Robert Filner participated in the Freedom Rides in 1961. He explains the conditions at the city jails, the county jails, and Parchman State Penitentiary in Mississippi. The oral history was filmed for the documentary The Children Shall Lead (link).

Robert Filner from Winter Institute on Vimeo.

His oral history may also be viewed here.

Interview Data

Name of Interviewee: Congressman Bob Fillner

Date: November 10, 2001

Place of Interview: Jackson, MS

Jack Young was a self-taught civil rights attorney. Young lived in Jackson with his wife, Aurelia, and their two children. A former letter carrier, Jack Young was admitted to the Mississippi bar in 1952 and became a point man in civil rights legal battles. Most African Americans engaged in civil rights activities in Jackson were protected from direct economic retaliation by whites through either federal civil service laws or by providing services directly to the black community. The Young home was a headquarters for activists who streamed in from across the country. Aurelia Young noted in her diary, “Our house is no longer like Grand Central Station; it seems more like International Airport. It is the only place in Jackson where people are integrated – they are even segregated in the jails.”

Sources:

“Civil Rights Driving Tour of Hinds County”produced by the Associated Press, Tougaloo College, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and the Mississippi Development Authority (Tourism Division).

Marv Davidov participated in the Freedom Rides in 1961. He describes the conditions at Parchman State Penitentiary. The video was filmed for the documentary The Children Shall Lead (link).

Marv Davidov from Winter Institute on Vimeo.

His oral history may also be viewed here.

Interview Data

Name of Interviewee: Marv Davidov

Date: November 10, 2001

Place of Interview: Jackson, MS

Mrs. Gladys Noel Bates was an eighth grade science teacher at Smith Robertson School in 1948 when she filed a lawsuit, later joined by R. Jess Brown against the Jackson public school system to equalize salaries for white and black teachers. A local NAACP board member, she and her husband, John, also a teacher, were fired form the school system later that year and blacklisted so that they could not teach in the South. The Mississippi Association of Teachers in Colored Schools paid Mrs. Bates’ salary for a year. Mrs. Bates’ father, A.J. Noel, was a leader in the Progressive Voters’ League in the 1950s and a NAACP local chapter board member.

Sources:

“Civil Rights Driving Tour of Hinds County”produced by the Associated Press, Tougaloo College, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and the Mississippi Development Authority (Tourism Division).

U.S. Attorney General’s Assistant John Siegenthaler observed the Freedom Rides in 1961. He speaks about the violence at Anniston, Alabama, and his attempt to convince Diane Nash to end the Freedom Rides on behalf of the federal government. He arrived in Montgomery before the Freedom Riders and attempted to prevent violence. In the mob in Montgomery, he tried to stop the violence and was beaten unconscious. The video excerpts come from the documentary The Children Shall Lead (link).

John Siegenthaler from Winter Institute on Vimeo.

His oral history may also be viewed here.