Show Notes
In the final part of the story about Jack Kershaw, we'll talk about his legal career. Before he represented MLK's assassin, before he sculpted a gigantic racist statue out of old bathtubs, he got a law degree from a part time night school program at the YMCA so he could do his part to stop integration.
Sources:
Phillips, Betsy. Dynamite Nashville: the FBI, the KKK, and the bombers beyond their control. Third Man Books 2021.
Houston, Benjamin, et al. “‘We Kept the Discussion at an Adult Level’: Jack Kershaw and the Tennessee Federation for Constitutional Government.” Southern Cultures, vol. 20, no. 4, 2014, pp. 72–88. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26217566 Graham, Hugh Davis. “Desegregation in Nashville: The Dynamics of Compliance.” Tennessee Historical Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 2, 1966, pp. 135–54. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/42622869 McMillen, Neil R. “Organized Resistance to School Desegregation In Tennessee.” Tennessee Historical Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 3, 1971, pp. 315–28. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/42623247 Michael J. Henry, Student Display of the Confederate Flag in Public Schools, 33 J.L. & EDUC. 573 (2004). https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2824&context=jled Egerton, Joel. Walking into History: The Beginning of School Desegregation in Nashville https://southernspaces.org/2009/walking-history-beginning-school-desegregation-nashville/ https://www.ahcuah.com/lawsuit/federal/melton.htm https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/328/88/1428295/
https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/klanbly-friendly-tennessee-state-becomes-hate-tourist-mecca/ https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/42777957/james-n-mason/ https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/BR/81/897/1821803/
https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/the-fugitives/
https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/clinton-desegregation-crisis/
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/24/us/nashville-civil-rights-bombings.html See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
More from Weird Little Guys
A final look at the Pioneer Fund's attempt to use racist pseudoscience to overturn the Brown v Board of Education Supreme Court decision.
We're revisiting two classic Weird Little Guys episodes from last year about a white nationalist political party's attempt to get their candidate on the ballot. Third Position Original air date: 8/21/25 In 2012, a newly formed white nationalist political party tried to get their candidate on the ballot. The American Third Position Party wanted Americans to vote for Merlin Miller, but how did the party end up picking him? Sources: https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/federalelections2012.pdf#page=11 https://irehr.org/2018/06/14/what-is-the-american-freedom-party/ https://www.ocregister.com/2009/09/04/two-time-felon-runs-pro-white-political-group/ https://rosecityantifa.org/articles/meet-the-oregon-chapter-of-the-american-freedom-party-part-one/ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/will-la-elect-a-ron-paul_b_104053 https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2013/08/two-american-freedom-party-leaders-speak-out-about-their-party/ https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d284 https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/middle-east/six-day-war-liberty.html A Secret Third Thing Original air date: 8/28/25 After the 2012 election, the American Third Position Party rebranded. Not because their candidate lost, they expected that. But probably because their candidate didn't know what the party's name meant. Sources: https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/federalelections2012.pdf https://politicalresearch.org/2016/12/19/what-third-position https://www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/neofascism-european-style/ https://www.alternet.org/2008/07/surviving_a_weekend_with_americas_premiere_pro-white_activist_group# https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2016/10/18/former-mpd-chief-drue-lackey-dead-90/92349168/ Winkler, Martin M. Arminius the Liberator: Myth and Ideology. Oxford University Press, 2016. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In the first level of Knowledge Fight Country, Dan and his guest adventurer Molly Conger set out to understand the context around Tucker Carlson's interview with a welder who is mad about algebra. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A closer look at one of the men on the Pioneer Fund's team of scientists for segregation reveals that he wasn't a scientist at all.
Last week, the DOJ's Civil Rights division announced they were moving to dismiss more than 50 desegregation cases against school districts all over the country. Like the weird little guys trying to overturn the Brown v Board of Education decision in the 1960s, the Trump administration is trying to take us all back to a version of America they think was great.