Saving the Soul of Georgia

Donald L. Hollowell and the Struggle for Civil Rights

Maurice Daniels

• Publisher: University of Georgia Press
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9780820346298
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Law Biographies
• Index: Law

Donald L. Hollowell was Georgia's chief civil rights attorney during the 1950s and 1960s. In this role he defended African American men accused or convicted of capital crimes in a racially hostile legal system, represented movement activists arrested for their civil rights work, and fought to undermine the laws that maintained state-sanctioned racial discrimination. In Saving the Soul of Georgia, Maurice C. Daniels tells the story of this behindthe- scenes yet highly influential civil rights lawyer who defended the rights of blacks and advanced the cause of social justice in the United States.

Hollowell grew up in Kansas somewhat insulated from the harsh conditions imposed by Jim Crow laws throughout the South. As a young man he served as a Buffalo Soldier in the legendary Tenth Cavalry, but it wasn't until after he fought in World War II that he determined to become a civil rights attorney. The war was an eye-opener, as Hollowell experienced the cruel discrimination of racist segregationist policies. The irony of defending freedom abroad for the sake of preserving Jim Crow laws at home steeled his resolve to fight for civil rights upon returning from war.

From his legal work in the case of Hamilton E. Holmes and Charlayne Hunter that desegregated the University of Georgia to his defense of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to his collaboration with Thurgood Marshall and his service as the NAACP's chief counsel in Georgia, Saving the Soul of Georgia explores the intersections of Hollowell's work with the larger civil rights movement.

Index

Abernathy, Ralph David, 3, 144–45, 150–55, 244n64

Abram, Morris, 116

academic qualifications for admission, to UGA School of Law, 48, 51, 54, 76–77

ACCA (Atlanta Committee for Cooperative Action), 227n10, 233n38, 234n59

Acree v. County Board of Education of Richmond County, Georgia (1968), 183

activism of DLH: overview of, ix, ix–x, xiii, 150, 194–95

Communist allegations and, 26–28, 192

democracy and, xii

direct action support and, 8–9, 107–8, 127–28, 150

Holmes case and, 88–89

legacy of, xii, 2, 204–5

local and established activists’ conflicts and, xii, 7–9, 107–8, 150–51, 212n25

NAACP’s membership campaigns and, 30, 39, 87

negotiations during direct action and, 114, 127–29, 143–44, 146–47, 150, 151

as public speaker, 7, 9, 107, 120–21, 128, 145, 147, 169

segregationists and, 9–10

SNYC and, 9, 25–28, 127, 192

social change and, 4

VEP and, 195, 197, 201. See also specific community organizations

Adams, Michael, xiii, 54, 206, 209

Aderhold, O. C., 53, 76–77, 79–80

adult activists, in Albany Movement, 137–38, 139–41, 144–45, 151, 242n36, 242n39, 242n41

African Americans. See blacks

airport desegregation, 5, 62–65, 108, 212n12

Albany, Georgia: black professionals in, 132–34

public school desegregation in, 182–83

public transit segregation in, 137–38, 242n36

segregationists in, 138, 140, 143, 144, 150–51

Albany Movement: overview of, 3–4, 129, 137, 152, 155–59

Abernathy and, 3, 144–45, 150–55, 244n68

adult activists in, 137–38, 139–41, 144–45, 151, 242n36, 242n39, 242n41

Albany State College and, 139–41, 146

arrests and, 140–42, 145–46, 151–52, 154–55

black professionals in Albany and, 132–34

churches’ support in, 144–45, ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• ONE Preparing for Battle: Early Influences and Aspirations
• TWO A Legal Education: Addressing the “Just Grievances” of Negroes in America
• THREE The Road to Freedom: Challenging Segregation as Georgia’s Chief Civil Rights Lawyer
• FOUR Opening the Doors: Dismantling Segregation in Higher Education
• FIVE “An Appeal for Human Rights”: The Atlanta Student Sit-Ins
• SIX Freedom in the Air: The Albany Movement
• SEVEN Turning the Tide: Hollowell’s March across Georgia
• EIGHT Hollowell’s New Marching Orders
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index