Connor, Theophilus Eugene ‘Bull’ vs. New York Times et al

Trial Transcript, 1960

(AR 17)

On April 12, 1960 the New York Times published an article by correspondent Harrison Salisbury examining race relations in Birmingham, Alabama. Bull Connor and his fellow city commissioners filed suit against the Times. This collection contains a transcript of the trial.

Size: 1 box

Cooper, Jerome A. “Buddy”

Papers

(AR 1633)

Born in 1913, Jerome "Buddy" Cooper was one of the first lawyers to act as counsel for the budding workers union movement in the southeast. A graduate of Harvard Law School and clerk under United States Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, Cooper spent most of his life in Birmingham, from which he crisscrossed the South, representing unions and union organizers in legal battles with management and government, on several occasions standing before the U.S Supreme Court. He tried the first successful federal racial discrimination in employment case in 1950. The collection consists of a transcript of an oral interview with Cooper, newspaper clippings and court papers.

Size: 2 boxes

Fell, Charles A.

Memoirs, 1889-1969

(AR 978)

Charles A. Fell was born in Helena, Alabama, in 1889. He began his career in journalism as a reporter, first with the Birmingham Age-Herald (1907-1909) and later with the Montgomery Advertiser (1910-1911). In 1912, he began working for the Birmingham News, and except for brief jobs at two other newspapers during World War I, he spent the rest of his career at the News. Fell became the managing editor on the News in 1922 and remained in that position for the next thirty years. In 1955 he was appointed editor-in-chief, a position he held until his retirement in 1958. He died in Birmingham in 1969. The memoirs consist of five scrapbooks and one typescript of a book. The scrapbooks contain correspondence, reminiscences, newspaper clippings, photographs, and a variety of printed material, the bulk of which cover Fell's career as a reporter and editor with the Birmingham News. Among the subjects covered in the scrapbooks are several incidents prominent in the history of Birmingham, including the Banner Mine explosion, the Shiloh Baptist Church tragedy, a visit to the city by temperance advocate Carrie Nation, the implementation of a program for the mass treatment of venereal disease, and the activities of the Ku Klux Klan in the city during the early decades of the twentieth century. Also included is genealogical material concerning the Fell family. The typescript is of Invasion from the North: the Civil War Centennial Feature from the Southern Point of View by Birmingham writer Clint Bonner. Each of the five scrapbooks has an index.

Size: 1 reel microfilm

Flowers, Richmond

Scrapbook, 1962-1972

(AR 1203)

Newspaper clippings compiled by the staff of the Birmingham Public Library’s Southern History Department on Flower’s service as Alabama Attorney General.

Size: 1 volume

Graves, John Temple, II

Papers, 1903, 1908, 1929-1961

(AR 830)

John Temple Graves, II was a Birmingham newspaper columnist and author. Following work in Washington on the Federal Trade Commission and in New York and Florida as a newspaper journalist and editor, Graves moved in 1929 to Birmingham, Alabama to work for the Birmingham Age-Herald. In 1946 he moved to the Birmingham Post, and following the merger of the two newspapers he worked for the Birmingham Post-Herald until his death. His daily column was syndicated to western and southern newspapers and he served as a correspondent for the New York Times. Graves was active in politics and was in demand as a lecturer, focusing much of his speaking and editorializing on southern ideology. Considered a southern liberal early in his career, Graves by the 1950s had become a spokesman for the White Citizens' Council, an advocate of States' Rights, and an opponent of federal intervention in the southern race question. He authored several books of fiction and nonfiction, including The Fighting South (1943). Graves died in 1961. The papers include correspondence, newspaper clippings, booklets, three scrapbooks, a manuscript of an unpublished novel (“The Ticket to Nowhere”), and typed drafts of his newspaper bylines and speeches. Graves corresponded with many leading newspaper editors and their letters to him address issues of race relations, the U. S. Supreme Court, states' rights, the change in voting laws, northern attitudes toward the South, and the southern economy.

Size: 2 boxes

Graves, John Temple, II

Scrapbooks, 1929-

(AR 154)

Newspaper clippings of Graves’ “This Morning” and “This Afternoon” columns written for the Birmingham Age-Herald, Birmingham Post, and Birmingham Post-Herald.

Size: 5 volumes

Green, W. Cooper

Papers, 1940-1953

(AR 368)

W. Cooper Green was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1900. He was a graduate of Birmingham-Southern College and Columbia University. Green worked as a teacher and football coach, and as a real estate and insurance broker before being elected to the Alabama legislature in 1931. In 1933 he was appointed Birmingham’s postmaster, and elected president of the Birmingham City Commission, a position that also carried the title “Mayor,” in 1940. Green served as mayor until 1953 when he resigned to take a position with Alabama Power Company. He resigned from Alabama Power in 1959 to accept an appointment as president of the Jefferson County Commission, a position he held until 1975. Green served as president of the Alabama Chapter of the National Association of Postmasters, president of the Alabama League of Municipalities, president of the United States Conference of Mayors, and president of the Association of County Commissioners of Alabama. Cooper Green died in Birmingham in 1980. This collection contains the office files generated during Cooper Green’s terms as president of the Birmingham City Commission (Mayor). The files include correspondence, memoranda, publications, reports and other material relating to city government.

Size: 15 boxes

Green, W. Cooper

Scrapbooks, 1940-1970

(AR 477)

Newspaper clippings relating to Green’s service on the Birmingham City Commission and the Jefferson County Commission.

Size: 10 reels microfilm

Hamilton, William C.

Papers, 1963-1966

(AR 265)

William Hamilton served as Administrative Assistant to Birmingham mayor Albert Boutwell. The collection includes correspondence, reports, memoranda and other material on the operation of the city government. The collection includes extensive documentation on civil rights activities in Birmingham.

Size: 4 boxes

Hanes, Arthur, J.

Papers, 1961-1963

(AR 269)

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Arthur J. Hanes was a graduate of Woodlawn High School and Birmingham-Southern College. After graduating law school in 1948 Hanes became an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, serving at offices in Chicago and Washington, D.C. He resigned from the FBI after three years and returned to Birmingham to work for Hayes Aircraft Corporation, eventually assuming the post of plant security manager. Hanes was appointed to the Birmingham Board of Education in 1958 and elected mayor of Birmingham in 1962. His brief tenure as mayor included the period of Birmingham’s 1963 civil rights demonstrations. Hanes left office in May of 1963 after a referendum to change Birmingham’s form of government eliminated his office. After leaving office Hanes worked as an attorney in Birmingham and briefly represented James Earl Ray, the man convicted of murdering Martin Luther King, Jr. The papers contain correspondence, memoranda, reports, and other material relating to Hanes’ term as mayor.

Hanes, Arthur J.

Scrapbooks, 1961-1962

(AR 465)

Newspaper clippings relating to city government during Hanes’ term as mayor.

Size: 2 reels microfilm

Hart, Frazier

“A Commentary on Social Evolution in Birmingham, Alabama,” circa 1983

(AR 1303)

In this 311 page personal memoir, Hart recalls growing up in Birmingham in the 1910s and 1920s and discusses the development of race relations in Birmingham after World War II.

Size: 1 volume

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