Documentary on Civil Rights attorneys examines legal struggle of the movement

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Black people’s ability to vote, go to school, and earn equal pay in Mississippi are due to the work of lawyers. The attorneys represented African Americans who were arrested protesting or simply wanting to serve on juries.

There were only three in the state who handled Civil Rights cases in the 1950′s and 60′s. Their stories are being told tonight in the documentary The Defenders: How Lawyers Protected the Movement.

Jacqualyn Brown Staffney was a child when her father, R. Jess Brown, was in court defending African Americans fighting for equal rights.

“He filed the first Civil Rights suit in Mississippi,” said Staffney.

Brown was one of only three Black lawyers in the state to represent those seeking equal justice and fair treatment. Alongside him were Carsie Hall and Jack Young.

“I witnessed my father always helping people. He was very passionate about law, and he always tried to help,” said Staffney. “Sometimes people couldn’t pay, you know, for his services. So a lot of times he’d bring home collard greens, sweet potatoes, and that was the pay, and we would be glad you know”.

The 40-minute film chronicles the lawyers’ defense of protestors, Freedom Riders, and those seeking equal voting rights, equal pay, and school desegregation. These three unsung heroes of the movement are remembered in the documentary The Defenders: How Lawyers Protected the Movement.

Fifty thousand dollars in donations paid for the film commissioned by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Sarah Campbell is the film’s Co-Writer/Co-Producer and Director of Programs and Publications with the MS Department of Archives and History.

“When we opened the Two Museums about five years ago, we knew that there were some stories that we hadn’t completely told,” Campbell. “It’s made up of historic information — information from the WLBT news film collection and the Department of Archives and History, from the Sovereignty Commission files, from the Medgar and Myrlie Evers collection.”

Roderick Red directed the 40-minute documentary, which took about a year to complete. He wanted to be a part of shedding light on the legal minds who challenged and changed an unjust system.

“These people don’t have streets named after them. They’re not in a lot of the history books,” said Red. “Thankfully, they made it into parts of our museums, and it could be argued that they should have had more prominent standing in those areas.”

Brown, Hall, and Young went on to found the Magnolia Bar Association to assist Black attorneys in the state.

The Defenders airs Friday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, February 19 at 11:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., and Thursday, February 23 at 2:00 p.m. on Mississippi Public Broadcasting.

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