Class lecture with Thomas R. Waring Jr., July 29, 1982

This is an audio recording of a lecture that Thomas R. Waring, Jr. gave to Jean Claude Bouffard's class in the summer of 1982. The recording begins with Waring already speaking.

Thomas R. Waring, Jr. (1907-1993), a white Southerner, former editor of the News and Courier, and later judge, presented a lecture to Dr. Bouffard’s Civil Rights class at the College of Charleston during the summer of 1982. In this lecture, Waring discusses the implications of an article he wrote for Harper’s Magazine in 1956 titled the “The Southern Case against Desegregation.” Waring elaborates on his slowing-down the desegregation thesis, the article’s publishing process, and the Northern press’ one-sided reporting on the Civil Rights Movement. At first, Mr. Waring talks in detail about the formation of the American Republic, the Nullification Movement of the Tariff in the 1830s, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the industrial development of the South between World War I and World War II. He then refers to incidents of public disorder during the 1960s, in particular the Charleston Hospital Workers' Strike in 1969 and the violent outbreaks accompanying it. He also mentions the apartheid system in South Africa comparing it to Southern segregation. Waring talks about several aspects of race relations such as segregation in public institutions, and busses as well as the mingling of races. Later, he refers to influential discussions and panels with Roy Wilkins, a prominent Civil Rights activist. Students probe Mr. Waring’s feelings regarding the educational, genetic, and economic implications of race; he hereby refers to the Highlander Folk School founder Myles Horton, interpreting the Constitution and States’ Rights, the relocation of people, slavery as constitutive for the South’s economy, and Southern poverty between the two World Wars. Lastly, the discussion inquires about Mr. Waring’s opinion towards the current state of Welfare and Reaganomics.