Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#4006
JAMES RESTON
COLLECTION OF JOAN LITTLE TRIAL MATERIALS
Inventory
Abstract: Transcripts of testimony, briefs, clippings, taped
interviews conducted by James Reston, and other
materials relating to the trial of Joan Little, a
black prisoner who was accused and acquited of murder
in the death of a white, male jailer in Washington,
N.C. in 1975. Reston used these materials to write
The Innocence of Joan Little (1977). Interviewees
include Golden Frinks, civil rights activist; Joan
Little; Jerry Paul, defense attorney; Richard Wolf, an
astrologer who helped the defense in jury selection;
and three North Carolina women prisoners.
Online Catalog Terms:
Afro-American prisoners--North Carolina--History--20th
century.
Afro-American women--North Carolina--History--20th century.
Frinks, Golden.
Little, Joan.
North Carolina--Race relations--20th century.
North Carolina--Trials, litigation, etc.
Paul, Jerry.
Prisons and race relations--North Carolina.
Reston, James, 1941- .
Trials (Murder)--North Carolina--History--20th century.
Wolf, Richard.
Women prisoners--North Carolina--History--20th century.
Size: About 90 items, 0.5 linear feet.
Provenance: Purchased from James Reston, of Hillsborough,
North Carolina, in February 1976.
Access: No restrictions. [See Sound and Image Librarian
for access to tapes.]
Related Collections: HAMILTON H. HOBGOOD PAPERS, #4246.
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers,
or their descendants, as stipulated by United
States copyright law.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Historical Note
Collection Overview
Series Descriptions
Series 1. Trial Transcripts
Series 2. Clippings and Other Papers
Series 3. Interviews
Shelf List
INTRODUCTION
Historical Note
On 27 August 1974, the half-naked body of Clarence Alligood
was found in the Beaufort County Jail in Washington, North
Carolina. The white jailer had been stabbed to death with an
ice-pick, and his twenty-one year old black female prisoner, Joan
Little, was gone. Little surrendered to North Carolina
authorities over a week later insisting that she had acted in
self-defense against a sexual assault. She was charged with
first degree murder, which carried an automatic death sentence if
convicted under contemporary North Carolina law.
The Joan Little murder trial captured national attention and
made the defendant a symbol for feminists, civil rights
activists, and opponents of capital punishment. Using highly
sophisticated fundraising techniques, the Joan Little Defense
Committee raised over $350,000 nationally and around the world
for her defense. On 14 August 1975, she was acquitted.
James Reston was a faculty member at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill who collected information during the
trial for a book exploring the case. For further information see
James Reston, The Innocence of Joan Little: A Southern Mystery
(New York Times Books, 1977).
Collection Overview
This collection documents the Joan Little murder trial through
transcripts of testimony, trial briefs, lawyers' arguments, and
newspaper clippings. Recorded interviews conducted by Reston
with major figures in the case provide further information not
admitted in the trial itself. Reston used these materials to
write his book exploring the varied perspectives of significant
participants in the trial. The collection is organized as
follows:
Series 1. Trial Transcripts
Series 2. Clippings and Other Papers
Series 3. Recorded Interviews
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. Trial Transcripts
1975. 12 items.
Includes typed transcripts of testimony, lawyers' arguments to
the jury, and trial briefs.
Folder 1-2 Testimony of Joan Little
3 Testimony of Hubert Leon MacDonnell
4-6 Testimony of Willis Alan Peachey
7 Testimony of Robin M. Williams, Jr.
8 Argument to the Jury by William Griffin
9 Argument to the Jury by Jerry Paul
10 Argument to the Jury of John A. Wilkinson
11 Brief for the State
12 Defendant Appellant's Brief
13 Summary of Indictments, Appeals, Evidence, etc.
Series 2. Clippings and Other Papers
1975. About 50 items.
Chiefly clippings about the trial taken from North Carolina
newspapers. This series also includes press releases and a
script for a video presentation, "The Joan Little Story,"
produced by James Reston.
Folder 14-16
Series 3. Recorded Interviews
1975-1976. 22 items.
Arrangement: alphabetical
Cassette tapes of interviews conducted by James Reston with
significant participants in the Joan Little trial. Reston's
book, The Innocence of Joan Little, contains chapters on many of
the individuals heard on these tapes. The sound quality on some
cassettes is poor.
T-4006/1-2 Celine Chenier, civil rights worker and member of
the Joan Little Defense Committee. See also Tape
14.
/3 Jacquatta Davis, female inmate at the Women's
Prison in Raleigh and Marie Hill, death row inmate
there.
/4-5 Golden Frinks, civil rights activist and member of
the Joan Little Defense Committee. See Also Tape
21.
T-4006/6-9 William Griffin, prosecutor.
/10 Joan Little, accused of murdering her white
jailor, Clarence Alligood.
/11-12 Henry McKinnon, judge who ruled for change of
venue from Beaufort to Wake County.
/13 Courtney Mullin, social psychologist who helped
defense team argue successfully for change of
venue.
/14-16 Jerry Paul, defense attorney. See also Tape 10
/17 Willis Peachey, deputy sheriff of Beaufort County
and chief investigative officer on morning of the
crime.
/18 Louis Randolph, fundraiser for Joan Little Defense
Fund.
/19-20 John Wilkinson, prosecutor.
/21 Richard Wolf, psychic and astrologer who assisted
defense in jury selection and as mediator on
defense team.
/22 Marjorie Wright, helped Joan Little escape
Beaufort County.
SHELF LIST
Box 1 Series 1. Trial Transcripts (folders 1-6)
Series 1. Trial Transcripts (folders 7-13)
Series 2. Clippings and Other Papers (folders 14-16)
Items separated:
T-4006/1-22