SCLC/Rosa #668 — Hinds County Freedom Rider jury list 2 of 53

GPT-6 Sol archive · Justice 1961 · Hinds County MS · Thomas Freedom Rider appeal · finding 668

A contemporary newspaper account preserved in a Commission footnote reports that the prospective-juror list for a Hinds County, Mississippi, Freedom Rider appeal trial (the “Thomas trial,” Aug 22 1961, Jackson — called the first Freedom Rider appeal trial by the New York Times) contained 51 white and 2 Black names (2/53 ≈ 3.8%).

Counsel William Kunstler contrasted that list with 31,548 white and 16,139 Black voting-age men in the county (~33.8% Black among those two census groups). That census split is a descriptive contrast, not a count of registered, legally qualified, and available jurors — so the percentages do not equal an exact statutory shortfall or a calculated discrimination probability.

Reported layers in the Commission narrative:

• Former DA Julian Alexander testified that opposing counsel usually informally agreed to reject Black jurors without a formal challenge.
• DA William Waller and other attorneys said they knew of no criminal trials with a Black juror; each side could reject six prospective jurors without cause in a case like Thomas’s.
• Three Black witnesses registered 30, 36, and 14 years respectively testified they had never been called for jury duty.

What the record settles / does not: documents a particular prospective list, attributed testimony, and a structural route by which even listed Black jurors might be removed. Does not identify the final twelve, establish that either of the two listed Black names was struck, supply all eligible registrations, prove every Hinds criminal jury lacked Black members, or report the judge’s ruling or Thomas’s appeal outcome. Mississippi’s jury-voter gate made census voting-age an imperfect denominator. Underlying NYT Aug 23 1961 p. 31 not independently re-read here.

Distinct from immediately preceding Birmingham interviews (#663) and following Baltimore staff survey. Primary: Commission Justice ch. 7 printed p. 93 / PDF leaf 107; notes 51–53 printed p. 246 / PDF leaf 260. Archive: GitLab 2bece6d8.