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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Oliver, C. Herbert Document on Human Rights in Alabama, The Willie Coleman Case

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09641.12 Author/Creator: Oliver, C. Herbert Place Written: Birmingham, Alabama Type: Typed document signed Date: 1963 Pagination: 3 p. ; 35.4 x 25.7 cm Order a Copy

One document regarding the case of Willie Coleman of Alabama. Text reviews the instance by which Coleman was arrested by policemen as a suspect in a robbery and after turning himself into the police was beaten. The author of the letter, Rev. C. Herbert Oliver recounts the tension during and after the trial by the policemen. Once the verdicty was delivered as "not guilty," one officer E. H. Goodwin insisted a witness, David Tate, lied about where Willie Coleman was during the night of the robbery.

Coleman, Willie Jr., fl. 1963
Oliver, C. Herbert, 1925-
Goodwin, E.H., fl. 1963
Tate, David, fl. 1963

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