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The Mississippi Moments Decades Series continues counting down to the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage 50th Anniversary Celebration in 2021. Another controversial Mississippian takes the spotlight in this week\u2019s episode. Few public figures did more to hinder the cause of civil rights in our state than Judge Thomas P. Brady of Brookhaven.

1972 - In 1948 President Harry S. Truman ordered the desegregation of the US Military. He also supported progressive civil rights legislation that threatened long-established Jim Crow laws of the day. In this interview recorded on March 4, 1972, Judge Brady recalls helping form the State\u2019s Right Democratic Party or \u201cDixiecrats\u201d in response. In the 1950s, a series of progressive Supreme Court decisions angered conservative whites across the South. Brady states his reasons for wanting Justices to be elected and not appointed.

After school segregation was ruled unconstitutional in Brown versus the Board of Education, Brady railed against that decision in a speech entitled \u201cBlack Monday.\u201d He explains how the speech became a book and inspired the formation of Citizens\u2019 Councils across the country. While overtly rejecting the violent tactics of the KKK, the Citizens\u2019 Council covertly worked to destroy the lives and livelihoods of all who openly supported integration and equal rights of black Mississippians.

Judge Brady was appointed to the Mississippi Supreme Court in July of 1963. Despite his record on racial matters, in several cases that came before the court, he demonstrated a fealty to the Constitution beyond his personal beliefs. He discusses his decision to integrate a \u201cwhites only\u201d park in Greenwood despite being a segregationist.

PHOTO: actual Citizens Council membership card from private collection.