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Sweatt v. Painter

Oral History Interviews at Tarlton Law Library

Published or transcribed oral histories with references to the case Sweatt v. Painter held by the Department of Special Collections, Tarlton Law Library.

Greenhill, Joe R. A Texas Supreme Court Trilogy, Volume 2: Oral History Interview with the Honorable Joe R. Greenhill, Sr. Austin: Jamail Center for Legal Research, 1998.
Call number: KFT 1712 T49 1998 v.2
Greenhill helped prepare and argue the State of Texas' response to Sweatt v. Painter as Assistant Attorney General. In the interview, Greenhill discusses at length the State's case, the trials, the oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, and Sweatt himself. Greenhill later became Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court.

Johnson, Corwin W. Corwin W. Johnson: An Oral History Interview. Austin: Jamail Center for Legal Research, 2003.
Call number: KF 292 T425 J63 2003
Johnson was one of several professors from The University of Texas School of Law who were pressed into double duty as law professors for the Texas State University for Negroes (TSUN). In the interview, Johnson describes the curriculum, students, and facilities at TSUN, which began operations in the basement of a building just north of the State Capitol before its permanent establishment at Texas Southern University in Houston. Johnson also discusses his opposition to segregated education, and the attitudes of UT Law School faculty and students toward segregation and Heman Sweatt.

Keeton, Page. W. Page Keeton: An Oral History Interview. Austin: Tarlton Law Library, 1992.
Call number: KF 292 T425 K43 1992
Keeton served as dean of the University of Oklahoma Law School (1946-1949), before returning to The University of Texas as Law School dean (1949-1974). He discusses integration at both law schools and the cases that brought them about, Sweatt v. Painter and its companion case, McLaurin v. Oklahoma.

Mauzy, Oscar M. Oral History Interview, 1996.
Mauzy graduated from The University of Texas School of Law in 1952 and went on to become a state senator and Texas Supreme Court justice. Mauzy discusses at length the attitudes of students and faculty toward integration, and the reception given to Heman Sweatt as a student in the Law School. He also relates his efforts as a state senator to promote minority recruitment at the Law School in the 1960s through the Continuing Legal Educational Opportunity program, and his views on the Hopwood v. Texas case (1996), which struck down the Law School's affirmative action program.