never get a shot at a job like that, and doesn’t that amount to the same sort of psychological damage as in the Brown case?”
“Everyone knows that,” Bob said dismissively.
“Most white people don’t,” I replied. “Anyway, you could say the same thing about school segregation—everyone knew it hurt kids’ self-esteem—and yet that’s how you convinced the Supreme Court it had to do something about it.”
“I’m not so sure what most white people knew then,” Bob replied. “But it’s worth a try. Be careful not to overreach or take chances that will lose us credibility with the judge.”
I was ecstatic.
“And don’t expect me to come out there and bail you out,” he said, with a smile.
Suppressing the urge to hug him, I felt appreciated in a way that reminded me of Bill Rutherford. That thought, however, was immediately followed by another: Was it racist to equate the two men? Bob was supremely well educated, and I didn’t even know if Bill had graduated from high school. But like Bill, Bob hid his deepest pain from me just as I concealed my conflicted feelings from him, and both men had reason not to trust white people. Though it was unstated, Bob and I knew there was a lot roiling just below the surface of our relationship, even as he had begun to trust me. He sensed that something deep inside drove me to the work we were doing, and that it was something I had to do. Anyway, I thought, it was my feeling, connecting the two men, and for that matter a driving force in my passion for the work.
I needed one more thing to increase our chances of winning: permission to drop Secretary Gardner from the case. Bob quickly assented, and so did McConnell.
I started putting together a trial plan. I decided that Bill Davis should take a more active role. It was crucial that Kinneary feel that the case rose out of a need of the black community in Columbus, and not because some white lawyer from the NAACP’s national office in New York City thought it was a good opportunity to push a radical agenda. The more Davis participated in the hearing, the less likely that Judge Kinneary would be distracted by my role. In the days ahead McConnell, Bob, and I conferred about experts, pulling three into our case. I interviewed them and prepared their testimony over the phone.
At nine thirty in the morning on May 1, we entered the courtroom with our small group of supporters. Bill Davis made a brief opening statement and called our first expert, Walter Tarpley, the community relations director for the city of Columbus.
Tarpley set the stage for our other expert testimony, reciting evidence of all the available unemployed young black men available to do construction work.
Hoiles’s cross-examination tried to weaken Tarpley’s testimony. He asked:
“Does the Negro lad just graduated from college have at least an equal opportunity with the white college graduate of 1966 to gain employment in almost any field he wants?” Hoiles asked.
“He does,” Tarpley agreed. To me that answer was just plain wrong. I held my breath.
“What about Negro and white high school graduates,” Hoiles pressed.
“No,” Tarpley replied. “Family connections come into play at this level, placing Negroes at a disadvantage.”
“How ready are Negro young people to work in the construction trades?” Hoiles asked.
“It’s true many Negroes haven’t spent much time training for jobs they didn’t think they could get anyway,” Tarpley answered, but “there are many already working in the more marginal craft jobs, and they can enter the field quickly.”
Two professors from Ohio State University, Nason Hall, Jr., an urban sociologist, and Samuel Stellman, a consultant to the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity, followed Tarpley. The testimony of both men established our psychological approach. They told the judge that black young men looking to enter the workforce knew the construction trades were closed to them and that had a heavy impact on them—that they lost hope, became hostile and even antisocial. Both also discussed the positive effect that the opening up of jobs would have in the black community, and how easily black workers could be trained.
Next I called Ohio Civil Rights Commission Director Ross to follow up on some questions I asked at the March hearing about discrimination among the craft unions.
Judge Kinneary quickly took over, however.
“Has a single individual ever gained admission to any craft union after having invoked the procedures of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission in the seven years you have