This lady had to go to the Supreme Court to be called Miss Hamilton in Alabama

[iluvtennis]

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/11/30/567177501/when-miss-meant-so-much-more-how-one-woman-fought-alabama-and-won

June 1963. Gadsden, Ala. Mary Hamilton, 28, stood in a courtroom before a judge.

She was a black civil rights activist, arrested for nonviolent protest. And the judge was losing his patience.

The atmosphere in Gadsden that summer "was truly frightening and terrifying," says Colin Morris, a history professor at Manhattanville College. "The Klan was highly active. On more than one occasion there had been attacks in Gadsden."

But Hamilton wasn't frightened. She was furious. She refused to answer the prosecutor's questions.

"I won't respond," she said, "until you call me Miss Hamilton."

It wasn't just about an honorific. It was about respect and racial equality. Her demand was an act of defiance that would eventually bring her name before the U.S. Supreme Court and set a precedent for how witnesses are addressed in courtrooms today — with equal courtesy.

Hamilton grew up in Iowa and Colorado. For a while she thought she'd be a nun — then she discovered socialism, and through socialist groups, learned about the work civil rights groups were doing in the South.

She was light-skinned, like many of her relatives. Some members of Hamilton's family passed as white, but Hamilton refused. "She was disgusted that anyone would pass," says her daughter, Holly Wesley. "She identified very strongly as black."

When Hamilton heard about the burgeoning civil rights movement, she was elated.

"It's happening! We're finally fighting back!" she recalled thinking, in an oral history she taped years later with her friend Sheila Michaels. "We're gonna fight back, we're not gonna take it any more!"

...very interesting article you can read at the link

[Hermit-The-Prog]

1. slaves were typically listed as first name only

It was a pretty blatent attempt by the prosecutor to "put her in her place" in the eyes of everyone in the court.

[demmiblue]

2. Kick to read later. n/t

[eppur_se_muova]

3. The police did that even with professionals. They refused to address a doctor as "doctor", but ...

... made it clear he had better answer to first name only.

The episode was recounted by Dr. Alvin Poussant in the documentary Power to Heal.

When you read Southern newspapers from before the 60's, you can tell the whites from the blacks because the whites are addressed as "Mr." or "Mrs." -- white women would be "Mrs. John Smith" etc. but black women would be identified by first name.

[WhiteTara]

4. Yet another Shero

[bobbieinok]

5. In 56 in OK a friend came to our group livid because a black woman hadn't called her Miss Judy!!

We were white kids in HS.

'Judy' was working during Chrstmas sales at a local department store. The woman was an 'alterations lady'.