A Civil Rights Roundup
At Liberty & Power, David Beito links to a rare recording of Zora Neale Hurston's voice. You can hear her talk about Haitian zombies and her book, Tell My Horse (1936). The Florida Memory Project has 18 recordings online that were made by Hurston when she worked for the WPA in the 1930s.
Peter Applebome,"Following a Kindly Light, and Casting One," NYT, 2 December, features 91-year-old George M. Houser, one of only two survivors from the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation that tested racial segregation in interstate transportation in the Jim Crow South. Later, he was a founder of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Still later, at Antioch College, I sponsored the award of honorary degrees to George Houser and CORE's James Farmer. Thanks to Paul Harvey at Religion and American History for the tip.
Jerry Mitchell,"Buried Secrets: Confessions, but no change," Jackson Clarion-Ledger, 2 December, is the first in a three-part series on the murders of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman at Philadelphia, Mississippi, in June 1964. The series is based on 40,000 pages of sealed state and federal records obtained by the Clarion-Ledger. In 2005, a grand jury came within one vote of indicting one of the murders. A relative of his was on the grand jury [!] and cast a deciding vote[!]. Thanks to David Garrow for the tip.