The average person has blind spots that are products of the prejudices and popular ideas during their lives. Some try to catch a glimpse of what lies beneath the surface, but few succeed.
William Bradford Huie, an Alabama alumnus, was a rare exception, who didn’t allow himself to be blinded by popular opinions. He worked to be in the “truth business” – the truth that so many others either could not, or would not, see.
This month marks Huie’s 100th birthday, and tonight at 7 the Bama Theatre will present “William Bradford (Who-He?) Huie, Voice of the Voiceless,” a play honoring Huie’s life and work.
“Its an honor for us to have this play here for [Huie’s] 100th,” said David Allgood, manager of the Bama Theatre. “He was a great writer who accomplished so much in the world.”
Huie was born in Hartselle in 1910, then attended the University, was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and graduated in 1930. Immediately after his graduation, he went to work for The Birmingham News.
Huie’s body of work includes a wide span of topics from the last century. He covered many things, including Alabama football’s tradition of winning at any cost, the D-Day invasion, and the Civil Rights Movement, which was perhaps his most controversial coverage.
“He was a very important person in journalism during the Civil Rights Movement,” said Billy Field, writer and director of “Voice of the Voiceless” and a professor at the University.
Huie reported on the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi. Till, a black boy, was murdered at the age of 14 after allegedly whistling at or saying something “sassy” to a white woman. A biased jury acquitted Till’s murderers, claiming they could not identify Till’s body, which had been brutally mutilated, after only 67 minutes of deliberation.
A year following the verdict, Look magazine assigned Huie to investigate. After being offered money and protection by double jeopardy, the killers confessed to Till’s murder, describing the incidents to Huie. During this process, not only did Huie uncover the truth, but he also invented “checkbook journalism,” where reporters pay sources for their accounts.
“[Following the acquittal] people had called the trail a farce, and it had been a farce,” said Field. “[Huie] got them to confess. It was a huge breakthrough heard all over the world.”
Historian David Halberstam said Huie’s Look article, along with Till’s open-casket funeral, sparked the Civil Rights Movement.
“Voice of the Voiceless” uses a fictional journalist, Hunter Morris, to challenge Huie in the search for the real truth, not the “killer’s” truth. While no one disputes their guilt, some believe that the killers, and perhaps Huie, sugarcoated their stories – portraying their crime as a gallant effort to uphold white supremacy and preserve of the Southern way of life, rather than as an act of vengeful brutality.
“Hunter sees this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to challenge Huie,” said Ben Mitchell, a junior majoring in theater and the actor portraying Morris. “Hunter and Huie share the main conflict. Hunter is after the story; Bill is trying to hide it.”
While the play seeks to educate people about Huie’s influential work, its main goal is to raise awareness of Huie, evidenced by Field’s inclusion of “Who-He?” in the title.
“I bet you 90 percent of the people in Alabama don’t know who he is,” Field said. “He’s sold 28 million books – that’s amazing. Six of his books were turned into Hollywood movies. [“The Americanization of Emily,” with Julie Andrews and James Garner was probably the most famous.] Hemingway only had seven.”
Field also hopes students learn from Huie’s experience at the University.
“Huie came to [the University] to be a lawyer,” Field said. “Here, he got involved with some outside-the-box thinkers who urged him to keep writing. Huie’s college experience mattered, not only in the classroom but also in his associations. Huie maximized his college experience. That is my wish for the students of today.”
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and admittance is free.
