The story of the trial is in Marshall, a new film director, Reginald Haddling (a warning: many saboteurs are in front of the film). Wil Haygood, the author of Decisive Battle: thurgood marshall and Changing the Nomination of the US Supreme Court, said that this nominal role played by Chadwick Boseman seems to be more worthy of a Hollywood biopic. (Hagood also wrote an article "* * *", which later became a book, which was the basis of the 20 13 biographical film "The Butler") Hagood said:
"He is the only black lawyer in this country who has always kept in mind the overall situation in the pre-modern civil rights era." . He will present cases of voting rights, employment rights, criminal justice and housing discrimination. All these victories became the blueprint of 1964' s civil rights bill and 1965' s voting rights bill. "
1908 was born in Baltimore. Marshall is the son of a housekeeper and kindergarten teacher. Marshall showed his talent for law at an early age, became an important member of the school debate group, and recited the American Constitution (in fact, the Constitution was assigned to him as a punishment for his misbehavior in class). Marshall attended Lincoln University's long-established Black College, graduated with honors from 1930, and then entered Howard Law School under the guidance of civil rights lawyer Charles Houston. After graduation, he began to handle cases for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
At the time of the incantation trial, Marshall had gained a good reputation as a lawyer against racial injustice in the whole country, especially in the southern region (he will spend 14 years debating Brown v. Board of Education in the Supreme Court, and 27 years later he will become the first African-American judge in the court. As a lawyer, Marshall helped establish the NAACP legal defense fund. "This is the first public interest law firm dedicated to discovering cases that will change society, not just helping specific plaintiffs," wrote political scientist Peter Deere. Although Marshall invested all his money in theoretically more difficult cases related to education and apartheid, he was very willing to accept clients like Joseph speer. Four members of the Democratic National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (from left to right, Henry Moon, roy wilkins, Herbert Hill and thurgood marshall) hold posters against racial injustice in Mississippi. (Library of Congress)
First of all, Marshall needs a joint consultant from Connecticut to help him debate the case. This consultant should be more familiar with the state's laws and politics. The Bridgeport branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People hired Samuel Friedman, a local lawyer, and Josh Gard played this role in the film, although Friedman's initial reaction was, "I don't think you can find anyone in the street who has any sympathy for speer or thinks it is mutually agreed", including me. "This is especially true, because speer didn't deny that he had sex with Sterling, he just claimed that she agreed.
Speer's wife, Virginia Clark, lived in the attic of a house at the time of the incident. According to Speer, one night when Eleanor Sterling's husband was not at home, he knocked on her bedroom door and asked if he could borrow some money. When Sterling opened the door, she only wore a silk robe, invited him in and told him that she was happy to help him. When he met her, Speer announced that he was interested in having sex with her. She agreed, as long as he kept it a secret, but she was afraid of being found in the bedroom. Juan Williams, a biographer, wrote in "thurgood marshall: American Revolution", so they got into the car and started * * * until the fear of pregnancy overwhelmed her. "We stopped * * *, and the handkerchief in my pocket had secretions," speer told his lawyer in his testimony.
"I suggest we go by car," he continued. "She said it doesn't matter."
But even the hard drive made Sterling afraid of being discovered. She told Speer to go to new york, and then ordered him to park his car by the Kensiko Reservoir, and then jumped out. Speer was worried that if he chased her again, she might get hurt, and finally left. When Sterling made the accusation, it was two truck drivers who found her late at night. A few hours later, Speer was detained by the police.
"Most black people in the south were lynched for * * *. They didn't even have a trial, "Hagood said. He pointed out that the case of the boy in Boluo, Scotland is a sad example of this injustice. 193 1 The case revolves around nine African-American teenagers sentenced to death for two white women, although no evidence of this accusation was found (most of the sentences were commuted and some men's sentences were overturned).
But the Scotes Boro case is just one of many cases. 1923, after a black man was accused of being a white woman, the black town of rosewood in Florida was destroyed and the local residents were massacred. 1955, 14-year-old emmett Thiel was brutally killed on suspicion of flirting with white women. Mississippi Rep. Thomas Sisson even said, "As long as * * * continues, lynching will continue ... We will protect our girls and women from these black animals." The new york Star and the Amsterdam News were published a few days before Speer's trial.
It is generally believed that the final verdict of the jury will be based on the unwritten law of white women and colored men in the United States. However, for white and colored women, unwritten laws are often forgotten.
On April 1933, four young people accused in the case of Scotes Boro were brought to the court in Alabama. (AP photo) Marshall is aware of the prejudice he may face by a jury composed entirely of white citizens. After all, he has been threatened with his life in the past for taking over such cases, and he will receive more such threats in spell cases. However, although speer faced 30 years' imprisonment and obtained a plea agreement from the prosecutor, Marshall wrote to Friedman, "The more I consider the possibility of speer accepting a plea, the more convinced I am that he can't accept any form of plea. In my opinion, he is not only innocent, but also when others know that he is innocent.
As a continuation of racism against blacks, it also affects local African-Americans, many of whom are employed as domestic helpers. If the spell fails, they may soon have no more choices to earn income.
Friedman and Marshall's case depends on pointing out many differences in Sterling's story and the evidence that the police failed to show, including the ransom note or rope that Sterling claimed to be tied to it. Sterling said she was blocked, so she didn't shout it out. Friedman stopped the legal historian Daniel J. Charf from writing that when a police officer asked the doctor about his examination of stringed instruments,
The doctor replied that he "didn't find anything to discredit"-which meant that Marshall and Friedman of speer argued that she had some arrangement with speer. Of course, Marshall will not look at this case from the standpoint of modern lawyers; Take * * * in marriage as an example. Until 1993, it will not be considered a crime in 50 States. Now, a familiar topic that people care about-the blame of the victim was unheard of at that time.
Despite her inconsistency, Sterling is still a social woman. Her father is an investment banker and the president of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. Her husband drove an ambulance to Princeton in World War I, and Speer's lawyer knew that she enjoyed a high reputation in society. What can the defense counsel say to make the jury doubt Sterling's statement? Shafstein wrote that after knowing that speer had been married many times and engaged in other extramarital affairs, he decided to get closer to the audience's stereotype of black men. Friedman believed that speer was not so much a criminal as an immoral adulterer, which confirmed their racist hypothesis. In the final debate, he said: "They had this improper relationship all night. I don't see any problem. The formalities of marriage and divorce mean nothing to him. But not to Mrs. sterling. She has moral cultivation and dignity ... she knows that she has done something wrong.
After the two sides made their final statements, Judge karl foster gave his own instructions to the jury. He told the jurors, "The fact that the defendant is colored and the plaintiff witness is a white woman should not be considered." . He added, "I accuse you that even if Mrs. Sterling used her wrong judgment to protect herself, these facts in themselves did not give the defendant any permission to have sex with her against her will."
After 12 hours of deliberation, the all-white jury made a verdict: Joseph speer was acquitted.
"It's a miracle," Hagood said. "But thurgood marshall created a miracle."
This case is so famous that his name appeared in a letter written by the French novelist Carl Van Vickden to the poet langston hughes. "Joseph speer has just got rid of the accusation of * * * and needs a job. He advertised in the press office in Amsterdam and received many letters from fans! Van Wickden wrote. Finally, Speer moved to East Orange, New Jersey, where he lived with his wife until his death.
This is not the last time Marshall proved his courage in a challenging case. He argued 32 times in the Supreme Court and won 29 times. For Hagood, it was a pleasure to see Marshall finally get the attention he deserved. During Speer's trial, he said, "The northern media didn't take a good look at their backyard on the issue of racism and apartheid. But it will still happen. These argots and narratives have existed for a long time.
But sometimes, as Marshall's work proves, these narratives will be overturned.
Will Hagood will appear with "Marshall", "1Saturday, October 7th, 10, 7 pm, at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. More details about this incident. "