Resource: Henry Hampton Collection: Harry Briggs, Jr.

This interview was done for Henry Hampton's Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years (1954-1965). Harry Briggs, Jr. is the son of Harry and Eliza Briggs, one of the families who sued the school board of Clarendon County, South Carolina, seeking equal treatment in busing services for black students. That case, Briggs v. Eliot (1954), combined with four other cases formed Brown vs. Board of Education, the landmark decision by the the United States Supreme Court finding that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. In the interview, Mr. Briggs discusses the conditions of the schools and his experiences in a segregated system, as well as how his and his parents' participation in the case has influenced his life.