Haywood County
County in TennesseeWikipedia
17
MENTIONS
5
EPISODES
5
PODCASTS
Search complete. 17 mentions across 5 episodes found for "Haywood County".
Oct 22, 2026
Jim EmisonGUEST
He and his wife were also charter members of the Brownsville, Tennessee NAACP branch that was formed in March of 1939.
Jim EmisonGUEST
Haywood County was a vast majority black county where a minority of whites had held power since they took it back after Reconstruction.
Jim EmisonGUEST
And in 1940, no black person in that county had registered to vote in over half a century.
Jim EmisonGUEST
Jim, what drew
D. WatkinsHOST
you to investigating this murder?
Jim EmisonGUEST
I live about 20 miles from where this crime occurred.
Jim EmisonGUEST
I had tried over a 40-year legal career many cases in Haywood County, Tennessee.
Jim EmisonGUEST
I had represented black people, white people, even some deputy sheriffs.
speaker_2HOST
It's Andrew Swartzel.
speaker_2HOST
He was at Haywood County before.
speaker_2HOST
And you remember Haywood had those fun shows with that awesome drum set player the last couple of years.
speaker_2HOST
So he went to Riverside.
David KustoffGUEST
Every vote matters.
David KustoffGUEST
Uh, Haywood County, which is, which is a county in the 8th Congressional District, they had a county mayor's race in August when all the, you know, all the counties had their, their races.
David KustoffGUEST
The county mayor was elected by five votes.
David KustoffGUEST
Five.
Blake FarmerHOST
...
Blake FarmerHOST
Black people outnumber white people in Haywood County still.
Jim EmisonGUEST
They do.
Blake FarmerHOST
And it's been like that a long time, and yet not until this year, uh, did residents elect a Black mayor, Jeffrey Richmond.
Blake FarmerHOST
What does that tell you?
Jim EmisonGUEST
Well, Jeffrey Richmond is a, the Black mayor of Haywood County.
Blake FarmerHOST
Right.
Jim EmisonGUEST
Brownsville, the county seat, elected a Black mayor about 10 years ago, William Rawls.
Nina CardonaHOST
In the spring of 1940, the bloated body of Black activist Elbert Williams was pulled from the Hatchie River in West Tennessee.
Nina CardonaHOST
He had been beaten and murdered for daring to register the Black citizens of Haywood County to vote.
Nina CardonaHOST
If you've never heard the story of Williams, you're not alone.
Nina CardonaHOST
Attorney and author Jim Emison has completed a new book on the nation's first Black voting rights martyr.