By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on December 30, 2024
On May 9, 1987, producers for the William A. Elwood Civil Rights Lawyers Project at the University of Virginia interviewed me in front of the Governor’s Masion in Montgomery, Alabama about the challenges facing civil rights lawyers in Alabama.
The interview covered the following topics: (a) the Confederate Flag flying atop the Alabama State Capitol, (b) Governor George Wallace, (c) the continuing fight for civil rights on behalf of the state's Black citizens, (d) Allen, et al. v. Alabama State Board of Education, the case enjoining the state's use of unconstitutional teacher certification licensing exams, and (d) achieving parity in society, via the use of law as a tool for socio-economic justice.
I concluded the interview by discussing Mr. Ramus Rhodes, the African American custodian at the University of Alabama’s law school who mentored the first group of Black students in the law school.
The interview provided source footage for the PBS documentary, The Road to Brown: The untold story of “the man who killed Jim Crow.” (California Newsreel, 1990). This documentary chronicles the life of Charles Hamilton Houston, his crusade for civil rights, and the events that led to Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 Supreme Court decision that declared the doctrine of "separate but equal" to be illegal.
After watching this 18-minute video, you can judge for yourself how far African Americans in Alabama have come since I gave this 1987 interview.
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