Oral history with the Honorable J. P. Coleman, former governor of Mississippi and chief judge (ret.), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit - Page 1 |
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Oral history with the Honorable J. P. Coleman, former governor of Mississippi and chief judge ( ret.), the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
This oral history is provided through a cooperative project of University of Southern Mississippi Libraries and USM's Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage.
Funding provided by a National Leadership Grant for Libraries from the Institute for Museum and Library Services
The transcript is presented here for reference purposes only. Interviews in this collection are protected by copyright. PERMISSION TO PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED from the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. Please call ( 601) 266- 4574 for more information.
Biography
The Honorable James Plemon Coleman was born at the Coleman family farm in Fentress, Mississippi, December 9, 1914. He was one of six children born to Thomas A. and Jennie [ Worrell] Coleman.
Judge Coleman took his elementary and secondary education in the schools at Fentress and to this day he believes that " I did not get short changed on an elementary education." The Fentress school system went through the tenth grade so he completed high school at nearby Ackerman, graduating in the depth of the Great Depression.
The Depression impacted hard upon the Coleman family, as it did everyone except the wealthy. Although they were able to save it, the family farm was listed for sale for taxes and he recalls that " if you could get a job anywhere, doing anything, ten cents an hour was all you could get." This made it difficult for young Mr. Coleman who from the age of ten had the desire to become a lawyer. He had developed a love of the law from watching court cases when his father was serving as a juror. Money was so scarce that the only way for J. P. Coleman to go to college was work his way and that he did. He recalls that by the time he left Ole Miss for Washington " I had gotten to be a kind of an aristocrat. I was Superintendent of all the student janitors."
After spending the summer of 1934 helping Congressional candidate Aaron Ford make his successful campaign to unseat Congressman Thomas J. Busby, for Mississippi's Fourth Congressional District Seat, J. P. Coleman then accompanied Mr. Ford to Washington and served with him as a secretary four years.
While there, J. P. Coleman was elected Speaker of " the Little Congress," an organization of congressional aides which met weekly and functioned as a legislative house, following the rules of the U. S. House of Representatives.
While in Washington, J. P. Coleman attended George Washington Law School, winning his LL. B. in 1939. Subsequently, in 1960, he was honored by that school, which presented him with the Doctor of Law degree ( LL. D.) While still involved in law school he returned home in 1937 and successfully passed the
mus- coh. colemanj. doc Page 1 of 157
Object Description
| Title | Oral history with the Honorable J. P. Coleman, former governor of Mississippi and chief judge (ret.), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit |
| Description | Oral history.; Two interviews conducted on November 12, 1981 and February 6, 1982 with Judge J. P. Coleman. Coleman was born on December 9, 1914 in Fentress, Mississippi. After attending the University of Mississippi, he was invited to work in the election campaign of Congressional candidate Aaron Ford in 1934. When Ford won he asked Coleman to work as one of his two secretaries. In 1937, Coleman passed the bar exam and went on to get his law degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. In 1939. Upon his return to Mississippi, Coleman started a law practice until 1946 when he ran for District Attorney of the Fifth Circuit District of Mississippi and won. He served as District Attorney for two terms and in 1950 moved on to served as the Attorney General of Mississippi. In 1956, Coleman ran for governor of Mississippi and won. During his governorship, he also became a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives. |
| Date of interview | 1981 November 12 (1st interview); 1982 February 6 (2nd interview) |
| Interviewer | Caudill, Orley B. |
| Coverage (time period) | (circa 1819)-1982 (primarily 1930s-1960s) |
| Resource type | Text |
| Format | Digital reproduction of a 157-page document. |
| Language | English |
| Publisher |
University of Southern Mississippi. Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. University of Southern Mississippi Libraries. (electronic version) |
| Contributors | Electronic version made available through a National Leadership Grant for Libraries from the Institute for Museum and Library Services. |
| Notes | This item is part of the Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive. |
| Rights | Copyright protected. Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required. |
| Contributing institution | Mississippi Oral History Program of the University of Southern Mississippi. |
| Digital repository | University of Southern Mississippi Digital Collections. |
| Digital collection | Oral History. |
| File size | 1009.892 KB |
| File extension | |
| Identifier | mus-coh.colemanj |
| File name | mus-coh.colemanj.pdf |
