Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History

An Interview with James Silver, April 27-29, 1981 / interviewed by John Dittmer[sound recording].

By: Silver, James W. (James Wesley), 1907-1988.
Contributor(s): Dittmer, John, 1939-.
Material type: materialTypeLabelMixed materialsDescription: 2 cassette tapes (233 min.) : analog ; 8mm; 1 reel to reel tape (233 min.) : analog, 15/16ths ips ; 5 in. 1 transcript (117 p.).Subject(s): Faulkner, William, 1897-1962 | Smith, Frank E. (Frank Ellis), 1918-1997 | Moses, Robert Parris | Henry, Aaron, 1922-1997 | Till, Emmett, 1941-1955 -- Death and burial | Silver, James W. (James Wesley), 1907-1988 | Higgs, William | Silver, James William | Meredith, James, 1933- | Fleming, Karl | Marshall, Burke, 1922- | Pettigrew, Thomas H | University of Mississippi | Mississippi Highway Patrol | Ku Klux Klan (1915- ) -- Mississippi | Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (U.S.) | Journal of Mississippi history | Civil rights -- Mississippi | Demonstrations -- 1960-1970 | School integration -- Mississippi -- Jackson | Civil rights movements -- Mississippi | Race relations -- Mississippi | Oxford (Miss.) | Oxford (Miss.) -- History -- Riot, 1962Genre/Form: Oral histories.Online resources: Transcript Link to Electronic Resource for Transcript
Contents:
Part 1 -- Mississippi: The closed society -- Impressions of Bill Higgs -- The greatest accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement -- The Human Rights Commission -- The black barber -- William Faulkner -- The use of the word nigger -- More Faulkner stories -- Impact of columns in the newspapers -- Ku Klux Klan meetings -- Part 2 -- The second edition of the closed society -- Feeling indignant at Mississippi leaders lying -- Not making waves at Ole Miss -- Claiborne Society history class -- Huntington Library -- Bill Silver and Ole Miss crisis -- Being a stringer for NBC -- The Kennedy Administration -- James Meredith and the Highway Patrol -- Ole Miss incident -- People incarcerated at the Jackson fairgrounds -- Karl Fleming and Newsweek -- The Journal of Mississippi History -- Historical research in the early days -- Part 3 -- Historical research in the early days continued -- Southern publications -- Race relations in Mississippi as perceived them in the 1930's -- Whites in bi-racial meetings -- Intruder in the dust -- The attitude of other prominent liberals -- The preparation for change was not there -- Students' reactions to New Deal views -- Frank Smith elected to Congress -- Views on James Eastland -- The Brown decision -- Perceptions of the changes in Mississippi in 1955 and 1956 -- Democratic Convention and Dixiecrat movement -- Reaction to the Till case -- Part 4 -- Reaction to the Till case continued -- Going back to Oxford -- The release of the book -- Burke Marshall and Justice Department officials in 1961 in Washington -- The attitude of people at the time -- Announcement of Marshall plan at Ole Miss -- Impact of Bob Moses and SNCC in 1961 -- Aaron Henry -- William Faulkner story and the "negro smell" -- Tom Pettigrew's book -- Perspective of the present.
Summary: Interview of James Silver was conducted by John Dittmer at Cape Coral, Florida, on April 27-29, 1981
Item type Current location Collection Shelving location Call number Status Notes Date due Barcode
Online Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Electronic Archives Online Electronic Resource AU 116 Not for loan Link to Electronic Resource for Transcript 84751
By Permission Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Oral History Audio and Transcripts Archival Reading Room AU 116 - Silver, James original transcript (3 folders) Not for loan See Reference Desk. B143248
Media Request Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Oral History Audio and Transcripts Media Room AU 116 Available Transcript B143247
Online Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Oral History Audio and Transcripts Media Room AU 116 Not for loan Access in Media Room; headphones required. B143246

Part 1 -- Mississippi: The closed society -- Impressions of Bill Higgs -- The greatest accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement -- The Human Rights Commission -- The black barber -- William Faulkner -- The use of the word nigger -- More Faulkner stories -- Impact of columns in the newspapers -- Ku Klux Klan meetings -- Part 2 -- The second edition of the closed society -- Feeling indignant at Mississippi leaders lying -- Not making waves at Ole Miss -- Claiborne Society history class -- Huntington Library -- Bill Silver and Ole Miss crisis -- Being a stringer for NBC -- The Kennedy Administration -- James Meredith and the Highway Patrol -- Ole Miss incident -- People incarcerated at the Jackson fairgrounds -- Karl Fleming and Newsweek -- The Journal of Mississippi History -- Historical research in the early days -- Part 3 -- Historical research in the early days continued -- Southern publications -- Race relations in Mississippi as perceived them in the 1930's -- Whites in bi-racial meetings -- Intruder in the dust -- The attitude of other prominent liberals -- The preparation for change was not there -- Students' reactions to New Deal views -- Frank Smith elected to Congress -- Views on James Eastland -- The Brown decision -- Perceptions of the changes in Mississippi in 1955 and 1956 -- Democratic Convention and Dixiecrat movement -- Reaction to the Till case -- Part 4 -- Reaction to the Till case continued -- Going back to Oxford -- The release of the book -- Burke Marshall and Justice Department officials in 1961 in Washington -- The attitude of people at the time -- Announcement of Marshall plan at Ole Miss -- Impact of Bob Moses and SNCC in 1961 -- Aaron Henry -- William Faulkner story and the "negro smell" -- Tom Pettigrew's book -- Perspective of the present.

Original tapes are restricted.

Interview of James Silver was conducted by John Dittmer at Cape Coral, Florida, on April 27-29, 1981

MP3 files, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, [2007]. Audio cassettes Audio recording transferred to WAV files then converted to MP3 files,

PDF file, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, [2012]. Transcript Transcript scanned as PDF file.

Mode of access: Internet browser with PDF reader and MP3 player.

File containing original versions of transcript in various stages of editing available by permission from curator.