Code Switch The Black civil rights leader who sued to be called “Miss”
Mar 14, 2026
A 1963 courtroom standoff where a Black woman demanded to be called 'Miss' and took her fight all the way to the Supreme Court. Stories of Freedom Rides, nonviolent training, and brutal jail treatment bring the era to life. The episode spotlights how honorifics became a symbolic battleground and the links between civil rights actions and early feminist ideas.
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Mary Withstood Sadistic Jail Beatings Without Screaming
- Mary Hamilton endured repeated beatings and sadistic jailer tactics like being thrown on an elevator and ridden up and down while beaten.
- She resisted by refusing to scream, saying she wouldn't give jailers the satisfaction of hearing her cry out.
Mary Called Dr King To Evict A Harasser
- Mary Hamilton faced sexual harassment from fellow activists, even calling Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once to intervene when a man wouldn't leave her room.
- Dr. King reportedly told the man to leave and called Mary 'that little girl.'
Honorifics Were Tools Of Racial Degradation
- Refusing honorifics for Black people was a deliberate strategy to mark inferiority and reinforce racial hierarchy.
- Barbara McCaskill explains language was used to 'drill' notions of inferiority into Black people after emancipation.