The Eyes of Willie McGee: A Tragedy of Race, Sex, and Secrets in the Jim Crow South
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“I regret”: Forrest Jackson to Abraham J. Isserman, February 23, 1946, CRC papers.
first appeal: Brief for Appellant, Willie McGee v. State of Mississippi, Mississippi Supreme Court, 36116, March 28, 1946.
first trial reversed: LLC, June 10, 1946; McGee v. State, 36116, June 10, 1946; Southern Reporter, Volume 26, 2nd series, 680–84.
Smith v. Allwright: U.S. Supreme Court, 321 U.S. 649 (1944); Rowan, Dream Makers, Dream Breakers, 124–27.
“floodgates of hell”: Fleegler, Journal of Mississippi History, Spring 2006, 9.
“queen of Greater Liberia”: Ibid., 15.
“Dear Dago”: Bilbo to Vito Marcantonio, July 24, 1945, Marcantonio papers, New York Public Library; NYT, July 13, 24–25, 1945; Green, The Man Bilbo, 102.
Take Your Choice: http://www.churchoftrueisrael.com/tyc/tyc_toc.html.
“distinctly wooly”: for this passage, Bilbo cited America’s Greatest Problem: The Negro, by R. W. Shufeldt.
Take Your Choice sales: NYT, March 8, 1947.
“Mississippi is white”: Henderson and Shaw, Collier’s, July 6, 1946.
“red-blooded Anglo-Saxon man”: Etoy Fletcher, NYT, June 23, 1946.
Bilbo won: NYT, July 3–4, 1946.
Senate investigates: NYT, July 2, September 7, November 17, 1946.
1946 elections: NYT, November 6, 1946.
black Mississippians in World War II: Thompson, Lynchings in Mississippi, 119.
1,000 Mississippians voted: NYT, July 3, 1946.
1941–1946 lynching statistics: summary report on lynchings between 1913 and 1952, Tuskegee news clippings file, reel 234; SRC clippings file, “Lynchings 1946.”
Isaac Woodard: NAACP press release, July 11, 1946; “Isaac Woodard Case, 1946,” SRC clippings file; NYT, August 19, 1946, November 14, 1947; WaPo, November 6, 1946.
Orson Welles: http://www.archive.org/details/1946OrsonWellesCommentaries.
Woody Guthrie: http://www.folkarchive.de/blind.html.
Columbia riot: “Columbia, Tennessee” and “Columbia, Tennessee Riot, 1946,” SRC clippings file; NYT, February 27, March, October 5, 1946; Egerton, Speak Now Against the Day, 366–69.
Georgia lynchings: “Lynching, Monroe, Georgia 1946,” SRC clippings file; Tuskegee news clippings file, reel 233; NYT, July 27, 31, December 20, 1946; Egerton, Speak Now Against the Day, 366–69.
John Jones: “Lynching—Minden, Louisiana, 1946,” SRC clippings file; Tuskegee news clippings file, reel 233; NYT, August 16, October 19, 1946; WaPo,
November 28, 1946; Fairclough, Race & Democracy, 113–18; Egerton, Speak Now Against the Day, 369–70.
Max Yergan: Tuskegee news clippings file, reel 233.
kickbacks: NYT, November 1, 1946.
Bilbo’s cancer: WaPo, September 8, November 23, 1946; New Orleans Times-Picayune, January 5, 1947.
“Un-seat Bilbo”: Horne, Communist Front?, 56; CRC “Action Bulletin,” September 16, 1946, CRC papers.
Dashiell Hammett: WaPo, October 14, 1946.
crossed paths: Lawson, Black Ballots, 105.
Bilbo hearings, Jackson: CL, December 3, 5, 1946; JDN, December 3, 1946; WaPo, December 3, 4, 1946; NYT, December 5, 7, 1946; Lawson, Black Ballots, 105–15; “Hearing of the Special Committee to Investigate Senatorial Campaign Expenditures,” 1946, 79th Congress, 2nd Session, 333–61.
Bilbo hearings, Washington: WaPo, January 3, 5, 1947; NYT, December 7, 1946; JDN, December 29, 1946, January 3–5, 1947.
He left, by car: JDN, January 5, 1947; WaPo, January 6, 1947.
Gerald L. K. Smith: Green, The Man Bilbo, 118.
Bilbo’s death: NYT, August 22, 1947; Black Dispatch, August 30, 1947.
FOUR: HER JITTERBUG
second trial begins: LLC, October 7–9, 1946; CL, October 8, 10, 1946.
stubborn Collins: LLC, October 10, 1946.
“Twenty troopers”: LLC, October 7, 1946.
Dixon Pyles: Pyles interview transcript, Mitford papers, Ohio State; Pyles interviews with Chester M. Morgan, the Mississippi Oral History Program, University of Southern Mississippi, 1983.
Bilbo and labor: Morgan, Redneck Liberal, 76.
…and CIO: NYT, May 10, 1946.
thirty minutes: Pyles interview, Mitford papers; author interviews with Todd Pyles and W. O. Dillard.
Collins steps aside: Pyles interview, 1952, CRC papers.
Stennis changes venue: LLC, October 16, 1946; CL, October 17, 1946.
Spivak and Pyles: Pyles interview, 1952, CRC papers.
Hawkins libel suit: CL, August 2, 1951; Willet [sic] Hawkins v. Freedom of the Press Company, Inc., United States District Court, Southern District, August 1, 1951, National Archives, New York.
“very frightening”: Breland interview, 1952, CRC papers.
McGee’s affair story: Pyles interview, 1952, CRC papers.
Dray and Pyles: Dray, At the Hands of Persons Unknown, 397–405.
“a decent guy”: Bella Abzug interviews, Columbia University.
“theoretical foundation”: Laurent Frantz letter to CRC, September 23, 1946, CRC papers.
racist language: Horne, Communist Front?, 78.
Crafts: SRC clippings file, “Mississippi Mob—Craft Brothers 1946” Horne, Communist Front?, 196; NYT, August 20, 1946.
Truman on Powell: McCullough, Truman, 576.
prepared to shoot: Breland and Poole interviews with Daily Worker investigator, 1952, CRC papers.
Pyles background: author interviews with Todd Pyles and Courtenay Stringer; Dixon Pyles interviews with Chester M. Morgan, the Mississippi Oral History Program, University of Southern Mississippi, 1983; Pyles interview transcript, Mitford papers, Ohio State; McCain, The Story of Jackson, Biographical Sketches, 704; Mississippi: The WPA Guide to the Magnolia State; subject file, MDAH; U.S. Army Certificate of Service, December 31, 1945.
Dewey Swor: CL, September 3, 1948.
Hattiesburg: subject files, MDAH.
the same judge: after stepping aside in Laurel, Burkitt Collins returned to preside over the case in Hattiesburg. See LLC, November 14, 1946.
McGee in Hattiesburg: JDN, October 18, 1946.
“[H]e was crazy”: Breland interview, 1952, CRC papers.
sanity motions: motions, instructions, and partial testimony from the second trial are contained in the records of Mississippi Supreme Court case 36116, McGee v. Mississippi, MDAH.
grand-jury challenge: McGee v. Mississippi, 36116, transcript 3–104.
Scottsboro Boys: see Norris v. Alabama, 294 U.S. 587 (1935); NYT, April 2, 1935.
jury selection: Ibid.
sentencing guidelines: Ibid., motions and instructions, 24.
second trial, direct testimony: State of Mississippi v. Willie McGee, case 36411, summary of testimony, Kaufman papers, Smith College; Hattiesburg American, CL, JDN, LLC, November 12–14, 1946.
Pyles was aggressive: Hattiesburg American, November 12, 1946.
definition of rape: Ibid., motions and instructions, 31.
“she didn’t holler”: Breland interview, 1952, CRC papers.
McGee placed on stand: Ibid.; Hattiesburg American, November 13, 1946.
Bond, Waller, Bessie McGee: State v. McGee summary, Kaufman papers.
“We don’t ask you to turn Willie loose”: JDN, November 14, 1946.
McGee convicted: Hattiesburg American, November 14, 1946.
FIVE: GOD DON’T LIKE UGLY
Sandra Hawkins: Hawkins, “My Mother’s Voice,” unpublished manuscript; author interviews and correspondence with Ann, Sandra, and Dorothy Hawkins.
FBI file: in 1977, the FBI released several hundred pages of headquarters documents, labeled “Willie McGee,” to historian Al-Tony Gilmore.
“next room”: see, for example, the CRC’s “Willie McGee Case Fact Sheet,” March 30, 1948, Kaufman papers, Smith College.
Pyles, McGee affidavits: Pyles interview, 1952, CRC papers; Rosalee McGee affidavit, July 25, 1950; Willie McGee affidavit, February 3, 1951.
&nb
sp; Potiphar’s wife: Rowan, South of Freedom, 187.
“Willie McGee was murdered”: DW, May 9, 1951; Hawkins v. Freedom of the Press Company, Inc.
“ludicrously charged with rape”: Abzug profile, Stonewall Veterans’ Association, http://www.stonewallvets.org/BellaAbzug.htm.
“Wilametta Hawkins”: Edwards, Rape, Racism, and the White Women’s Movement, 13.
“Mrs. Willett Hawkins”: Horne, Communist Front?, 78–80.
“despite persuasive evidence”: Mitford, A Fine Old Conflict, 161.
“traveling salesman”: Rowley, Richard Wright, 392.
“ferocious spat”: Dray, At the Hands of Persons Unknown, 399.
“A Question of Race”: Brownmiller, Against Our Will, 239–45.
Emmett Till: Crowe, Getting Away with Murder, 50–69.
“a deliberate insult”: Brownmiller, Against Our Will, 245–48.
“provocative distortion”: Davis, Women, Race & Class, 197.
legal analysis: Zaim, Journal of Mississippi History, Fall 2003, 215–47.
McGee exonerated: Radelet, Bedau, Putnam, In Spite of Innocence, 332–33.
first affair stories: DW, February 25, 1951; Daily People’s World, March 2, 1951; “Fact Sheet On Willie McGee,” Kaufman papers.
“one-day ‘trial’”: DW, December 12, 1945.
“Two Minute Justice”: draft press release, CRC papers.
boilerplate dismissal: DW, May 28, 1950.
divorce papers: Eliza Jane Magee v. Willie Magee [sic], Covington County Chancery Court, Collins, Mississippi.
Leroy Jensen: author interview, September 2006.
Bertha Mae Crowell: author interview, September 2006.
Shubuta lynchings: NYT, December 21, 1918.
1920s Klan: see Chalmers, Hooded Americanism.
SIX: THE MALADY OF MEDDLER’S ITCH
McAtee: NYT, July 31, 1946; Lexington Advertiser, August 1, 1946.
Woodard: Chicago Defender, July 20, 1946.
“Negro Made Blind”: NYT, August 18, 1946.
postwar violence: Egerton, Speak Now Against the Day. See “Epidemic of Violence,” 359–75.
Georgia lynching: NYT, July 27, 1946.
John N. Popham: NYT, February 9, 1947; December 14, 1999; Salisbury, Without Fear or Favor, 352–56; author interview with John N. Pophera IV, November 2009.
Costigan-Wagner: NYT, April 10, June 4, December 30, 1934.
1933 lynchings: Thompson, Lynchings in Mississippi, 98.
Princess Anne lynching: NYT, October 19, 1933.
Southern legislators were opposed: see, for example, “‘Lynchings at Vanishing Point,’ Says Dixie Solon; Lauds South,” Tuskegee news clippings file, reel 233, frame 0286.
“gangster amendment”: Colmer papers, University of Southern Mississippi.
Walter White’s appearance: Kahn, “The Frontal Attack,” The New Yorker, September 4, 1948, 28.
lynching investigator: White, A Man Called White, 39–60; Janken, White, 29–55.
meeting with FDR: Cook, Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume Two, 1933–1938, 153–54, 177–81; Janken, White, 209–11; NYT, January 5, June 17, 1934.
Truman, White meeting: NYT, September 20, 1946.
“pale with horror”: “The President Means It,” Walter White, February 12, 1948, David K. Niles papers, Truman Library.
Truman on Woodard: Harry Truman to Thomas C. Clark, September 20, 1946, David K. Niles papers, Truman Library.
“American crusade to end lynching”: Chicago Daily Tribune, September 24, 1946; Duberman, Paul Robeson, 306.
“swelling wave of lynch murders”: Duberman, Paul Robeson, 305.
Truman, Robeson meeting: Chicago Daily Tribune, September 24, 1946; Louisville Courier-Journal, September 29, 1946.
“Iron Curtain” speech: NYT, March 6, 1946.
British imperialism: Duberman, Paul Robeson, 304.
Truman appoints committee: NYT, December 6, 1946.
Recy Taylor: Tuskegee news clippings file, reel 233.
Yarbrough rape case: LLC, March 10–12, 1947; Yarbrough v. Mississippi, 1947, Mississippi Supreme Court case files, MDAH. Also see Southern Reporter, Volume 32, 2nd series, 436–40.
Second trial coverage: PM, November 15, 1946.
PM’s origins: NYT, October 18, 1940.
“Just a few lines”: Bessie McGee letters, CRC papers.
“Rosa”: Ibid., July 16, 1947.
second appeal filed: CL, November 16, 1946.
second appeal: McGee v. State, 36411, August 6, 1947.
“sordid and revolting”: McGee v. Mississippi, reply of appellant, September 12, 1947.
Willie Earle lynching: “Willie Earle” subject files, SRC clippings file; Tuskegee news clippings file, reel 233; NYT, May 11, 13–15, 17–18, 21–22, 1947; “Trial By Jury,” Time, May 26, 1947, and “Twelve Men,” Time, June 2, 1947; West, “Opera in Greenville,” The New Yorker, June 14, 1947; Egerton, Speak Now Against the Day, 371–73.
“offenses against decency”: Sumter Daily News, February 18, 1947, SRC clippings file.
“The President may be interested”: David K. Niles to Matt Connelly, February 19, 1947, Truman papers, Truman Library.
Despite the usual complaining: Atlanta Journal, March 7, 1947.
Life: “Lynch Trial Makes Southern History,” Life, June 2, 1947, 27.
“delighted, giggling”: West, “Opera in Greenville,” The New Yorker, June 14, 1947.
“mad dog”: Tuskegee news clippings file, reel 233.
pulled out all the stops: NYT, May 21, 1947.
Earle verdict: Tuskegee news clippings file, reel 233; NYT, May 22, 1947.
1946 elections: “New faces of 1946,” Smithsonian, November 2006.
Lincoln Memorial speech: NYT, June 30, 1947.
To Secure These Rights: NYT, February 3, 1948.
…and text of report: NYT, October 30, 1947; President’s Committee on Civil Rights. To Secure These Rights: The Report of the President’s Committee on Civil Rights, Washington: Government Printing Office, 1947, http://www.trumanlibrary.org/civilrights/srights1.htm.