1. Asked about the Christie murder, Brown said, "I was too young, frankly, to give you any details. I do remember the incident." Willie Brown, interview, Assembly floor, Sacramento, Calif., Mar. 4, 1993. [BACK]

2. Details about the Christie murder based on records at the Wood County Courthouse, Quitman, Tex., The State of Texas vs. Robert Truman Crabtree , Case No. 7216, and The State of Texas vs. Listress Jackson , Case No. 7217; also Wood County Record , July 9, 1944, July 13, 1944, May 27, 1945; The Mineola Monitor , July 6, 1944, July 30, 1944, Sep. 7, 1944, Sep. 21, 1944; also interviews, where noted, with various Mineola residents and former residents. [BACK]

3. Willie Brown, press conference, Sacramento, Calif., Jan. 4, 1994. [BACK]

4. Statement of witness Dorothy Jackson, The State of Texas vs. Robert Crabtree , Feb. 14, 1945, and The State of Texas vs. Listress Jackson , Feb. 14, 1945; Dorothy Jackson was Listress Jackson's wife and Crabtree's daughter. [BACK]

5. "Negro Man Fatally Stabs J.B. Christie," Mineola Monitor , July 6, 1944. [BACK]

6. Interviews, Patty Ruth Newsome, Marcus McCalla, and others, Mineola, Tex., Feb. 23, 1993. [BACK]

7. Editorial, "Race and Politics," Mineola Monitor , July 13, 1944. [BACK]

8. Informant, Mineola, July 9, 1993. [BACK]

9. Marcus McCalla, interview. [BACK]

10. Patty Ruth Newsome, interview. [BACK]

11. Lovia Brown Boyd, interview, Ennis, Tex., Feb. 22, 1993. [BACK]

12. Willie Brown, interview, Assembly floor, Sacramento, Calif., Mar. 4, 1993. [BACK]

13. Robert Scheer, "Mr. Speaker: The Flash," Los Angeles Times , June 23, 1991. [BACK]

14. Records with the Wood County Clerk, The State of Texas vs. Jackson and Crabtree , verdict May 21, 1945. [BACK]

15. Gwendolyn Brown Hill, interview, Dallas, Tex., Feb. 20, 1993. [BACK]

16. Marcus McCalla, interview. [BACK]

17. Willie Brown, interview, Mineola, Tex., July 9, 1993. [BACK]

18. Scheer, "Mr. Speaker: The Flash." [BACK]

19. Lovia Brown Boyd, interview. [BACK]

20. Interviews, Gwendolyn Brown Hill; Lovia Brown Boyd. [BACK]

21. Story told by Gwendolyn Brown Hill, interview. [BACK]

22. Gwendolyn Brown Hill, interview. [BACK]

23. Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans ., May 17, 1954; Supreme Court of the United States, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). [BACK]

24. Robert E. Baskin, "Mineola Schools Backed by Tower," Dallas Morning News , July 10, 1966; editorial, "Problems in Mineola," Dallas Morning News , July 14, 1966. [BACK]

25. There are no records verifying Brown's standing in his high school class. But it is acknowledged among his classmates, including Frank Crawford, that Crawford ranked first and Brown second. Also, Willie Brown, interview, Assembly floor, Sacramento, Calif., Mar. 4, 1993. [BACK]

26. Texas Constitution, Art. VII, Sections 7 and 14 (1950); Texas civil statutes from 1925 and 1949, articles 2643 and 2719, 2900. Also see Supreme Court of the United States, Sweatt vs. Painter , 338 U.S. 865 (1950). [BACK]

27. Charles S. Johnson, Patterns of Negro Segregation , pp. 180-181. He writes of black colleges, including Prairie View: "As the education of Negroes has proceeded, the separate and limited colleges have become more and more inadequate; and there have been increasing demands for facilities for study on graduate and professional levels, where these are not provided in existing Negro institutions." Prairie View, Johnson wrote on p. 181, offered graduate work only in agriculture, education, and "one or two other fields." [BACK]

28. Willie Brown, interview, San Francisco, Calif., Dec. 15, 1993. [BACK]

29. Richard Kluger, Simple Justice , pp. 260-261. [BACK]

30. Lewis Brown, interview, Huntington Park, Calif., Mar. 15, 1993. [BACK]

31. Willie Brown, interview, San Francisco, Calif., Dec. 15, 1993. [BACK]

32. Brown and all his sisters agree that Anna Lee required this promise from Willie Brown before she would allow him to go to California. [BACK]

33. Willie Brown, interview, San Francisco, Calif., Dec. 15, 1993. [BACK]

34. Willie Brown, interview, Assembly floor, Sacramento, Calif., July 13, 1995. [BACK]