Gail Williams OBrien - The Color of the Law: Race, Violence, and Justice in the Post-World War II South

My gratitude is deep and wide. I appreciate the leadership of John W. Cell and the advice and support of the participants, including the late Betty Shabazz, in a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Seminar in the mid-1980s, when I began to shift the focus of my work from the nineteenth century to the twentieth. I am grateful to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars for a year-long fellowship that greatly facilitated the formation of this study, and to NEH, the Virginia Center for the Humanities and Public Policy, and North Carolina State University (NC State) for providing time away from my university duties at critical stages in the manuscript's development. Thanks, too, to the American Historical Association, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHASS) at NC State, NEH, and the Harry S. Truman Library for travel and research support. Special thanks to Sarah Smith in the CHASS Dean's Office at NC State for all of her assistance as I sought research support.

Professor Jacquelyn Dowd Hall played an important role in my early efforts to secure institutional support for the project, while Professors James O. Horton and Leon Litwack provided critical assistance every step of the way. I remain extremely grateful for their willingness to take time from their own busy schedules to fulfill my requests.

I very much appreciate the interest and hard work of Attorney Patti A. Goldman of the Public Citizen Litigation Group in Washington, D.C., in getting the federal grand jury records unsealed, and the efforts in my behalf of William M. Cohen, chief of Criminal Justice, and Pamela S. Jackson, senior paralegal specialist, of the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville. Attorney Cohen played a key role in the government's taking no position in regard to my petition to have the grand jury records unsealed, and Ms. Jackson enthusiastically assisted me in getting access to the grand jury material whenever I needed it. Bonnie Gay, assistant director of the Freedom-of-Information and Privacy Staff of the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, has also been very supportive, especially in my acquisition of photographs for the book. Additionally, I wish to thank the Crisis Publishing Co., Inc., publisher of the magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, for authorizing the use of photographs from The Crisis.

The late Paul F. Bumpus, former district attorney general of Tennessee, widened the possibilities of the study by loaning me the Lawrenceburg trial transcript, and I remain indebted to him. Every archivist and librarian that I encountered was extraordinarily helpful. In particular, I should like to thank archivist Wayne Moore and librarian Genella Olker of the Tennessee State Library and Archives. Thanks, too, to Mrs. Haroldine Helm of Independence, Missouri, who supplied the most wonderful home away from home that I have ever experienced. Peter Ammirati provided refreshing honesty, wry humor, and marvelous research assistance during my year at the Wilson Center; I also greatly appreciate the research assistance of Debbie Blackwell, Chris Dawes, and Seth Maskett.

Attorney Richard Dinkins, a senior partner in Z. Alexander Looby's law firm, put me in touch with invaluable sources in Columbia who, in turn, made my interviews there possible. These crucial contacts included the late Tennessee attorney general William M. Leech Jr. as well as human resources coordinator Ophelia Tisby and elder specialist Walter Pete Frierson of Legal Services of South Central Tennessee. All of those whom I interviewed in Columbia and elsewhere freely shared time, information, and opinions, and I remain exceedingly grateful. The Reverend Raymond Lockridge kindly met with me every time I traveled to Columbia.

Many thanks to those who read and commented on portions of the manuscript or on papers and drafts of articles that became part of the manuscript. They include Janaina Amado, Ray Arsenault, W. Fitzhugh Brundage, Jane Censer, Spencer Crew, Pete Daniel, Raymond Gavins, Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, James Horton, Robin Kelly, Robert Korstad, Leon Litwack, and Joe W. Trotter, along with several of my colleagues at North Carolina State UniversityHolly Brewer, David Gilmartin, William C. Harris, Joseph Hobbs, Walter Jackson, Mimi Kim, Linda McMurry, Nancy Mitchell, John David Smith, Pamela Tyler, and Kenneth Vickery. I should like to extend a very special word of thanks to my colleague, Alex De Grand, who read and commented on a much longer version of the entire manuscript, as well as on the shorter one.

Thanks, too, to Lewis Bateman, executive editor; Katherine Malin, editor, and all of those associated with the UNC Press. One could not ask for a more positive, professional group with whom to work. Additionally, I appreciate the strong support and suggestions of the two readers of the manuscript, W. Fitzhugh Brundage and Joe W. Trotter.

Last, but by no means least, I should like to thank my daughter, Kelly O'Brien, and my husband and colleague, Tony La Vopa. Without their help, suggestions, and encouragement, this book would never have become a reality. During my darkest daysand there were more than a fewthey invariably saw the light at the end of the tunnel and persuaded me that a book was in the making. For all of these reasons, and more, I lovingly dedicate this book to them.