The Firebrand and the First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship: Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Struggle for Social Justice (72 page)

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Authors: Patricia Bell-Scott

Tags: #Political, #Lgbt, #Biography & Autobiography, #History, #United States, #20th Century

BOOK: The Firebrand and the First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship: Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Struggle for Social Justice
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“stepped on a live wire”
: Porter, “Death Toll Is 39,”
NYT
.

“swept over its”
: Phillips, “100-Mile Wind Here Leaves Three Dead,”
NYT
.

“sped along the parkways”
: PM,
Song
, 291.

“Hurry up, girls”
: Ibid.

She read excerpts
: Ibid., 292.

“apparition”
: Ibid.

“towel-turbaned”
: Ibid.

“There’s a swimming pool”
: Ibid., 293.

“came out and stared”
: Ibid.

Later, over lunch
: Ibid.

“what a wonderful weekend”
: PM to ER, October 25, 1954, ERP.

41. “YOU MIGHT…COMMENT FROM THE SPECIAL WOMAN’S ANGLE”

“was very disturbed”
: PM to Skipper [Caroline Ware], October 29, 1954, PMP.

“something was wrong
: Ibid.

“budgetary considerations”
: National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing, “Fact Sheet on Case of Dr. Frank S. Horne,” [August 1955?], ERP. In addition to the fact sheet, Murray’s packet to ER included clippings of Charles Abrams, “Segregation, Housing, and the Horne Case,”
Reporter
13, no. 5 (October 6, 1955), 30–33; Ted Poston, “CSC Ignored Horne’s Backers on Firing,”
NYP
, November 22, 1955; and “ ‘Freeze’ On in Racial Housing Posts—11 Jobs Vacant,”
NYP
, November 25, 1955.

Morrow and Horne were replaced
: Poston, “CSC Ignored Horne’s Backers on Firing,”
NYP
.

“you might”
: PM to ER, September 5, 1955, ERP. To this letter, Murray attached “Memorandum on Corienne R. Morrow,” August 25, 1955, which described Morrow’s background and career, in addition to a press release about the Horne-Morrow case issued by the National Urban League, August 25, 1955, ERP.

“one of the top-level”
: PM to ER, September 5, 1955.

“the outlook”
: Ibid.

Joining a chorus
: See Abrams, “Segregation, Housing, and the Horne Case,”
Reporter;
Barrow Lyons, “Patronage Hangover,”
Washington Post and Times Herald
, August 14, 1955; Charles Abrams, “Discrimination in Housing: Reinstatement of Racial Relations Service Officials Is Asked,”
NYT
, August 23, 1955; and “Reinstate Horne, Urban League Asks,”
Washington Post and Times Herald
, August 26, 1955.

“There are very few”
: ER, “My Day,” August 17, 1955.

“budgetary reasons”
: Ibid.

“to go slow”
: Ibid.

“Dr. Horne’s case”
: ER, “My Day,” September 30, 1955.

Encouraged by ER’s advocacy
: PM to ER, October 23, 1955, ERP.

The pressure forced
: “HHFA Aide Wins Fight on Firing,”
Washington Post and Times Herald
, November 3, 1955.

“You’re a real darling”
: PM to ER, October 3, 1955, ERP.

42. “I CANNOT AFFORD TO BE A PIKER”

“To Mrs. Roosevelt”
: PM, inscription on the back of photograph, December 3, 1955, ERP.

“last ceremonial”
: PM,
Song
, 303.

“I don’t think”
: Ibid.

“the psalms”
: Ibid., 304.

“defend her”
: Ibid. Only masculine pronouns appear in the original text.

“burial undergarments”
: Ibid.

“slipped away peacefully”
: Ibid.

“fortitude”
: PM to ER, November 6, 1955, ERP.

After the burial
: Ibid.

“even more precious”
: Ibid.

“an Alice-blue”
: Ibid.

“chased”
: Ibid.

“If Mrs. R. has”
: Ibid.

“You are very brave”
: ER to PM, December 10, 1955, PMP.

As she walked
: PM to Marian MacDowell, November 10, 1955, MacDowell Colony Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

“marvelous tradition”
: PM to ER, November 6, 1955.

“little snapshot”
: PM to ER, December 5, 1955, ERP.

“It’s my most”
: PM to ER, December 16, 1955, ERP.

“delightful”
: ER to PM, December 12, 1955, PMP.

After the Civil Service
: “HHFA Aide Restored to Duty, Fired,”
Washington Post and Times Herald
, November 16, 1955.

“heart”
: PM to ER, December 3, 1955, ERP.

“blond, blue-eyed”
: PM,
Song
, 14.

“This is an inside story”
: PM to ER, December 16, 1955.

“If the rest”
: ER to PM, December 27, 1955, PMP.

“Did I ever tell you”
: PM to ER, December 16, 1955.

43. “THERE APPEARS TO BE A CLEAVAGE”

“Civil rights”
: PM,
Song
, 308.

The general assembly
: John D. Morris, “Virginia Passes Integration Curb: Senate Approves Bill, 38 to 1,”
NYT
, December 4, 1955.

Louisiana legislators
: “Ban on Mixed Athletic Events Finally Passed,”
Baton Rouge Morning Advocate
, July 6, 1956.

Mississippi governor
: “Segregation Pressed: Governor of Mississippi Says Schools Will Not Integrate,”
NYT
, September 13, 1956, and “Coleman School View: Mississippi’s Governor Says Closings Are Possible,”
NYT
, October 6, 1958.

On March 12
:
Southern Manifesto on Integration
, 102 Cong. Rec. 4459-4460 (1956) (statement of Sen. Walter F. George).

“a clear abuse”
: Ibid.

“parallels”
: PM to Bobby [Corienne R. Morrow], January 24, 1956, PMP.


Proud Shoes
is”
: Ibid.

“sad but true”
: ER to PM, January 26, 1956, PMP.

“to proceed gradually”
: “Favors Integration,”
Charleston (SC) News and Courier
, February 8, 1956.

The governor’s relations
: Averill Harriman and Adlai Stevenson, “Comments by Harriman and Stevenson on Integration: ‘Ultimate’ Test Seen,”
NYT
, February 13, 1956, and Lawrence E. Davies, “Stevenson Urges Candidates Ban Integration Issue: Sees No Greater Disservice Than Exploiting Tension,”
NYT
, February 13, 1956.

Incensed by Stevenson’s
: “Wilkins Scores Stevenson,”
NYT
, February 13, 1956.

“To Negro Americans”
: Roy Wilkins,
Standing Fast: The Autobiography of Roy Wilkins
(New York: Viking, 1982), 231.

“running away”
: A. H. Raskin, “Meany Chides Candidate for ‘Running Away’ on Segregation: Meany Censures Stevenson Stand Also,”
NYT
, February 15, 1956.

Eager to de-escalate
: “Mrs. FDR Explains Adlai’s ‘Moderation,’ ”
Philadelphia AA
, August 18, 1956.

“The record”
: ER, “My Day,” February 17, 1956.

“mores faster than people”
: PM,
Song
, 310.

“secondary to winning”
: Ibid., 309.

“Dear Mrs. Roosevelt”
: PM to ER, February 16, 1956, ERP.

“close association”
: Ibid.

“My dear Pauli”
: PM to ER, February 22, 1956, PMP.

“Much as I love”
: PM to Bobby [Corienne R. Morrow], January 24, 1956. The title of ER’s article was actually “Some of My Best Friends Are Negro,” and not “Negroes” as Murray wrote to Corienne Morrow.

“She is a regular”
: Ibid.

“encouragement and understanding”
: PM to ER, July 13, 1956, ERP.

“troubles”
: PM to ER, April 12, 1956, ERP.

“providential”
: PM to ER, May 21, 1956, ERP.

“I am so sorry”
: ER to PM, May 22, 156, PMP.

“clung to life”
: PM,
Song
, 305.

“to the typewriter”
: Ibid.

“Cut adrift”
: Ibid.

44. “YOU’RE A BIT OF A FIREBRAND YOURSELF”

“not one student”
: ER, “My Day,” March 12, 1956.

In Montgomery
: “Buses Boycotted over Race Issue: Montgomery, Ala., Negroes Protest Woman’s Arrest for Defying Segregation,”
NYT
, December 6, 1955.

In Tuscaloosa
: “Negro Student Admitted,”
NYT
, February 1, 1956.

Lucy’s first day
: “Miss Lucy Goes to College,”
NYT
, February 6, 1956, and E. Culpepper Clark,
The Schoolhouse Door: Segregation’s Last Stand at the University of Alabama
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).

“Keep ’Bama White”
: Clark,
The Schoolhouse Door
, 62–68.

“Hey, hey”
: Wayne Phillips, “Miss Lucy’s Education: Segregation Test Case,”
NYT
, February 12, 1956.

On Monday
: Phillips, “Miss Lucy’s Education,”
NYT
.

“Let’s kill her!”
: Tiya Miles, “Autherine Lucy Foster,” in
Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia
, ed. Darlene Clark Hine (New York: Carlson, 1993), 448.

When university officials
: Peter Kihss, “Negro Co-ed Is Suspended to Curb Alabama Clashes,”
NYT
, Feburary 7, 1956.

She invited Rosa Parks
: ER, “My Day,” May 14, 1956.

“They must have known”
: “Students Praised for Lucy Support: Mrs. Roosevelt Cites 500 Who ‘Dared’ to Sign Petition at University of Alabama,”
NYT
, March 25, 1956.

“the Negroes’ right”
: “Civil Rights Lag Scored at Rally: Speakers in Garden Assail Congress and Political Leaders on Progress,”
NYT
, May 25, 1956.

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