(CIVIL RIGHTS) Oral history with civil rights attorney Jack

Sale 2598 - Lot 186

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(CIVIL RIGHTS.) Oral history with civil rights attorney Jack Greenberg. [3], 406 unbound typescript carbon sheets, 11 x 8 1/2 inches, with numerous pencil corrections in Greenberg's hand; minimal wear. Housed in original Sphinx Business Papers box with minor wear. With the 9 June 1977 transmittal letter from Columbia University to Greenberg. [New York], 1977

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A transcript of a series of interviews with Jack Greenberg (1924-2016) in the midst of his celebrated 23-year stint as head of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. The interviews were done in 1974 and 1975 by Kitty Gellhorn of the Oral History Research Office of Greenberg's alma mater, Columbia University. His early life is discussed through page 37, his time at Columbia (undergraduate and law school) and World War Two through page 86, and the bulk of the remainder is dedicated to his work with the Legal Defense Fund. A personal name index at the end notes multiple references to Angela Davis, Martin Luther King, James Meredith, Lyndon B. Johnson, and especially his mentor Thurgood Marshall. For example, on page 280 he recalls asking President Johnson in person to appoint better judges to federal courts in the South. Johnson promised to do so, and then actually followed through, vetting his appointments with civil rights leadership. This typescript was one of only 4 copies, with the other 3 being filed at Columbia with strict access restrictions. It is the only one with Greenberg's manuscript corrections, which were transcribed by a clerk into the copies retained by Columbia. Provenance: consigned by Greenberg's adopted son William Cole.