1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:11,119 Speaker 1: and welcome to This Day in History Class, a show 3 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: that pays tribute to people of the past by telling 4 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: their stories. Today, I'm Gabeluezier, and today we're reflecting on 5 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 1: the struggles of a lesser known figure of the American 6 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 1: civil rights movement, a woman whose personal act of defiance 7 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:37,680 Speaker 1: wound up affecting a permanent change in the nation's legal system. 8 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:42,680 Speaker 1: The day was September twenty sixth, nineteen sixty three. The 9 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:47,360 Speaker 1: Alabama Supreme Court upheld the contempt conviction of Mary Hamilton. 10 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:50,959 Speaker 1: The twenty eight year old black civil rights activist, had 11 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: been arrested for nonviolent protest earlier that summer. Then, at 12 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 1: a trial to determine the legitimacy of her arrest, she 13 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: was disrespected by a white prosecutor who insisted on addressing 14 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:06,480 Speaker 1: her by her first name only. Hamilton refused to answer 15 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:10,039 Speaker 1: any questions unless the prosecutor use the word miss when 16 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 1: addressing her, and for that she was held in contempt 17 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 1: of court and sentenced to five days in jail. Hamilton 18 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,679 Speaker 1: appealed the decision to the Alabama Supreme Court that fall 19 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:26,640 Speaker 1: only for the all white justices to affirm the earlier ruling. Remarkably, though, 20 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:29,320 Speaker 1: the Miss Mary case as it came to be known, 21 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: didn't end there, as there was still one higher court 22 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: left to appeal to. Mary Hamilton was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 23 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:43,440 Speaker 1: on October thirteenth, nineteen thirty five. She was light skinned 24 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,479 Speaker 1: like many members of her family, but throughout her life 25 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:50,760 Speaker 1: she refused to pass as white. Her family moved to Denver, Colorado, 26 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:53,560 Speaker 1: when she was still a young girl, and after graduating 27 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: high school there, she went on to attend Briarcliffe College 28 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: and Manhattanville College, both in New York. For a time, 29 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,480 Speaker 1: Hamilton considered becoming a nun, but she later changed her 30 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 1: mind and became an English teacher instead. Then, in the 31 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:11,799 Speaker 1: early nineteen sixties, she heard about the burgeoning civil rights 32 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 1: movement and decided she had to be a part of it. 33 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: She joined the Congress of Racial Equality or CORPS, and 34 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:22,080 Speaker 1: became a freedom writer. In nineteen sixty the U. S. 35 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 1: Supreme Court had banned segregation at bus and train stations, 36 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 1: but in the South the practice remained alive and well 37 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:33,000 Speaker 1: for years to come. Hamilton and the other Freedom writers 38 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:36,640 Speaker 1: traveled all over the South, testing the region's resistance to 39 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: the ban, organizing protest rallies and registering black voters. In 40 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:45,520 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty one, she and her fellow activists were arrested 41 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:49,400 Speaker 1: in Jackson, Mississippi, where they were subjected to stuffy jail cells, 42 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 1: invasive exams, and condescending police. Undeterred by this demeaning treatment, 43 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: Hamilton continued her work, becoming a CORE Field secretary and 44 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,400 Speaker 1: and eventually its Southern regional director. In the years that followed, 45 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:08,840 Speaker 1: she was arrested again numerous times for protesting, and during 46 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:13,359 Speaker 1: those incarcerations she was routinely ridiculed and beaten. But through 47 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:16,359 Speaker 1: it all, Hamilton stayed true to the principles of her 48 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 1: nonviolent movement. She was polite and quiet, but never passive. 49 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: For example, after one arrest in Lebanon, Tennessee, the mayor 50 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:28,079 Speaker 1: paid a visit to her cell to gloat, but when 51 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:30,880 Speaker 1: he referred to her as Mary, she told him her 52 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 1: name was miss Hamilton and that if he didn't know 53 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: how to speak to a lady, then he should leave, 54 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 1: which he did Withholding the honorifics of mister, miss or 55 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: missus from black people was a common practice in the 56 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty South like the use of the terms boy 57 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 1: or girl to refer to black adults. It was a 58 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: not so subtle way to erase their identities and remind 59 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:58,520 Speaker 1: them of their place. Mary Hamilton knew the tactic all 60 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 1: too well, and she pushed back on it every chance 61 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:04,640 Speaker 1: she got. But her most famous act of defiance took 62 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: place in an Alabama courtroom in the summer of nineteen 63 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 1: sixty three. Earlier that spring, Hamilton had helped organize a 64 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:17,159 Speaker 1: protest in Gadsden, Alabama, a factory town about sixty miles 65 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:20,600 Speaker 1: northeast of Birmingham. She and more than one hundred other 66 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: activists were arrested on charges of disturbing the peace, and 67 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 1: later that summer they were called to stand trial. On 68 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:31,840 Speaker 1: that June day in court, several white witnesses were questioned 69 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:34,840 Speaker 1: about the Gadsden protests, and every one of them was 70 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:39,520 Speaker 1: addressed by Otawa County Solicitor William Rayburn as either mister, 71 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:44,599 Speaker 1: miss or missus. Then it was Mary Hamilton's turn to testify, 72 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,040 Speaker 1: and thanks to the court transcript, we know exactly what 73 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: she said. What is your name, please, asked Solicitor Rayburn. 74 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 1: Miss Mary Hamilton, she replied, Mary Rayburn started I believe 75 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: you were arrested. Who who are you arrested by? My 76 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:06,440 Speaker 1: name is miss Hamilton. Please address me correctly. Who were 77 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:10,919 Speaker 1: you arrested by? Mary? At that point, Hamilton said she 78 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: wouldn't answer any questions until she was addressed correctly. Her 79 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:19,320 Speaker 1: refusal infuriated Judge A. B. Cunningham, and in the span 80 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: of moments he declared her in contempt of court and 81 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:25,280 Speaker 1: sentenced her to five days in jail and a fifty 82 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:29,600 Speaker 1: dollars fine. Mary Hamilton served the jail time, but refused 83 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: to pay the fine. Then, once she was released on bond, 84 00:05:33,279 --> 00:05:35,839 Speaker 1: her lawyers set to work appealing the conviction to the 85 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:39,479 Speaker 1: Alabama Supreme Court. It went about as well as you'd 86 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:43,680 Speaker 1: expect given the era. On September twenty sixth, nineteen sixty three, 87 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:49,359 Speaker 1: the justices upheld the conviction unanimously. But Mary's fight wasn't 88 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 1: over yet. She enlisted the aid of the NAACP's Legal 89 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:57,040 Speaker 1: Defense and Educational Fund, and together they took her case 90 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:00,720 Speaker 1: to the nation's highest court. In the written un filings, 91 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:04,640 Speaker 1: the lawyers made clear that quote the petitioner's reaction to 92 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:07,919 Speaker 1: being called Mary in a courtroom where, if white, she 93 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:12,160 Speaker 1: would be called Miss Hamilton was not thin skinned sensitivity. 94 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:15,840 Speaker 1: She was responding to one of the most distinct inditia 95 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:19,520 Speaker 1: of the racial caste system. This is the refusal of 96 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:23,880 Speaker 1: whites to address negroes with titles of respect. In other words, 97 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:27,280 Speaker 1: this wasn't just a breach of court room decorum. It 98 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 1: was a violation of Hamilton's constitutional right to equal treatment 99 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:35,560 Speaker 1: under the law. Six out of nine Supreme Court justices 100 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:39,839 Speaker 1: recognized that fact right away. In March of nineteen sixty four, 101 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:44,719 Speaker 1: they issued a summary reversal overruling the Alabama courts without 102 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:48,920 Speaker 1: even hearing oral arguments. The ruling made clear that all 103 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:53,279 Speaker 1: US courts must use respectful forms of address, regardless of 104 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: race or ethnicity, a precedent that still stands today. Hamilton's 105 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:02,479 Speaker 1: victory made headler lines nationwide, and she was even featured 106 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:05,960 Speaker 1: on the cover of Jet magazine, But she didn't particularly 107 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 1: enjoy the spotlight, and after years of exhausting work on 108 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:12,200 Speaker 1: the front lines of the movement, she was ready to 109 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:15,400 Speaker 1: pass the reins to someone else. She returned to her 110 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:18,280 Speaker 1: first love of teaching, earning her master's degree in the 111 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:21,720 Speaker 1: field in nineteen seventy one. She also worked as an 112 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:26,119 Speaker 1: organizer for eleven ninety nine a National health Care Workers Union. 113 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: She retired from those roles in nineteen ninety and passed 114 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:34,760 Speaker 1: away from ovarian cancer on November eleventh, two thousand and two. 115 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: Sixty years ago, the Miss Mary case secured a base 116 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:42,400 Speaker 1: level of courtroom courtesy for all Americans. But as you've 117 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 1: probably noticed over the last decade, the fight for respect 118 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,840 Speaker 1: in this country is far from over. In our legal institutions, 119 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,120 Speaker 1: our halls of power, and in our offices in schools, 120 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:57,400 Speaker 1: women in general are still subject to condescension, name calling, 121 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 1: and sexual harassment, and for women of these abuses are 122 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:05,560 Speaker 1: often compounded with even their basic competency called into question. 123 00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: That's why it's important now more than ever to remember 124 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:12,960 Speaker 1: the example of Miss Mary Hamilton, a woman who dared 125 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 1: to defy her oppressors, and who, in doing so, reclaimed 126 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:22,200 Speaker 1: both her name and her power. I'm Gabe Lucier and 127 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 1: hopefully you now know a little more about history today 128 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:28,480 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. If you want to keep up 129 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:31,200 Speaker 1: with the show, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, 130 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 1: and Instagram at TDI HC Show. And if you have 131 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: any comments or suggestions, feel free to pass them along 132 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:43,280 Speaker 1: by writing to this day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks 133 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:45,920 Speaker 1: to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank you 134 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 1: for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow for 135 00:08:49,080 --> 00:09:04,480 Speaker 1: another day in history class.