Elbert Tuttle oral history interview, April 10, 1992

Item — othertype: Oral History

Identifier: TuttleEP_19920410_P1992-05

Staff Only

Elbert Tuttle Oral History Interview

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Scope and Contents

Interviewed by Cliff Kuhn. Among topics discussed: Early life and education; first law practice; Atlanta in the 1920s; Georgia National Guard; John Downer case; Elberton lynch mob; the John Downer rape trial; A.T. Walden; the Leo Frank case; the Angelo Herndon case; Morehouse College; Dr. Benjamin Mays; the Republican Party; the Democratic Party primary; the Georgia General Assembly and the county unit system; composition of Georgia Republican Party; patronage; "lily‑white" Republicans; John Wesley Dobbs; Brown v. Board of Education; the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals; extending the Brown decision; the legal basis for "massive resistance"; ending litigation on school cases; the desegregation of the University of Georgia; hate mail; Sarah Tuttle; Rich's Department Store; Lester Maddox and the Pickrick restaurant; Prathia Hall v. Heart of Atlanta; desegregation of amusement places; voting rights; jury standards; Julian Bond case; the Fifth Circuit.

Dates

Creation: April 10, 1992

Creator

Tuttle, Elbert P. (Elbert Parr), 1897-1996 (Interviewee, Person)

Restrictions on Access

Oral history available for research.

Biographical Note

Elbert Tuttle (1897-1996) served as a Justice on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals from 1954 to 1968, as Chief Justice of the Fifth Circuit from 1961‑1968, and has served as Senior Justice of the Fifth Circuit (reorganized into the Eleventh Circuit as of October 1, 1981) from 1968 to the present. He served as Chief judge when the 5th Circuit was the legal battleground for the Civil Rights movement.