Talk:Edward Douglass White

Civil War service
There's a question about White's service after Port Hudson. I've been transcribing The Life of Annie Jeter Carmouche (from a copy of the manuscript written on a series of legal pads in 1915 for her grandchildren) which includes a "Muster Roll of Capt. E. A. Carmouche’s Company of Louisiana Cavalry." The muster includes the following:
 * No. 92, White, Ed. D. -- Private, enlisted 3–12–65 at False River [Pointe Coupee Parish] by Capt. Carmouche.

That this was, in fact, thought to be the same "Edward D. White" is shown by Mrs. Carmouche's note following the entry: "The last named is now Judge on the Supreme bench of the United States." Since White was born late in 1845, he was only 19 when he enlisted under Carmouche. And at Port Hudson he would only have been 17 -- which seems awfully young for a lieutenant, much less a general's aide. . . . So are we sure about the details of his military service? Or is this likely to actually be a different man, Mrs. Carmouche's identification notwithstanding? --Michael K. Smith 20:57, 3 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Well, I certainly have no idea. john k 21:17, 3 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Perhaps some more research is due, but having VERY young folks serve in the Civil War was not at all uncommon. If I recall correctly there was a 26 year old who had worked his way up to the rank of General in the Confederate Army by War's end. Galusha Pennyback was a Union General at age 20, Custer made General by age 23.  There are plenty of tales of 14 year old drummer buys, this may be correct for him to have been 17. Sf46 (talk) 16:49, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

White was actually born on November 3, 1844, according to the Catholic church records in Thibodaux.


 * According to a reliable source, Michael Ariens (see the External Links in the article) he was born in 1845. While that may be a factual misstatement (i.e. 'wrong'), I think it qualifies as a source under Wiki standards.  This would be notwithstanding primary sources, i.e., Catholic church records in Thibodaux, Louisiana, I think.  There is the question of getting it right and getting it verifiable, and these are not necessarily the same thing.   I would think that the Supreme Court might have a biography, which would deserve some consideration. 19:12, 10 February 2009 (UTC) Stan

Alma Mater
I added what I belive White's Alma Mater is.... but I think I might be wrong. I am just going on an infobox updating spree, and in this article the education section was ambigious about if the three colleges listed are actually his Alma Mater. If anybody knows more about White's alma mater, I would enjoy if you updated my changes to the infobox as well as the early life and education section. Thank you. --DFRussia 03:38, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Bot-created subpage
A temporary subpage at User:Polbot/fjc/Edward Douglass White was automatically created by a perl script, based on this article at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges. The subpage should either be merged into this article, or moved and disambiguated. Polbot (talk) 00:16, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

Shares a cemetery with?
Does it really matter who else is/was buried in the same cemetery? Seems quite trivial and has no bearing on who he was... Samatva (talk) 19:28, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

Spelling?
Is there some ambiguity about whether White spelled his middle name with one "s" or two? I've seen it both ways in various references to White. Nolabob (talk) 01:54, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

Dates of Service Incorrect
The information box lists White's date of elevation to Chief Justice as December 12, 1910. But the pop-up information box on the Supreme Court's page (http://www.supremecourt.gov/about/members.aspx) says he was elevated to Chief Justice on December 19, 1910. That same pop-up shows his last day as Associate Justice was December 18, 1910 (as opposed to December 12, 1910, which is currently listed on this page). 24.184.72.61 (talk) 05:23, 8 February 2015 (UTC)

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Juxtaposition of "conservative" with Plessy v. Ferguson
The text of the article states that

He was generally a conservative member of the court. He sided with the Supreme Court majority in Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld the legality of state segregation to provide "separate but equal" public facilities in the United States, despite protections of the Fourteenth Amendment to equal protection of the laws.

I think there should be something added - if this is accurate - that Fuller was a conservative of his day, not simply "a conservative." Readers may conflate contemporary conservatism - which does not support or endorse Plessy, with the conservatism of Fuller's day, which might well have.Tpkatsa (talk) 12:45, 7 September 2018 (UTC)

NOT a member of the Ku Klux Klan, despite wishful thinking!
Despite the referenced source that claims that White personally stated he was a member of the Klan, that is almost certainly not true. There was no significant Klan activity in New Orleans where he lived as a young man after the Civil War. He may have confused or conflated his brief membership in the New Orleans "White League" militia with the Klan. He briefly served as a sentry around the time of the Battle of Liberty Place. That was the true, documented extent of his membership in a "White supremacist" organization. In later life, he would certainly not have been welcome in the organized Klan, as he was a Catholic and the turn-of-the century Klan was virulently anti-Catholic. Djogo (talk) 15:15, 9 November 2020 (UTC) Djogo
 * Is there a source for this proposition? BD2412  T 15:36, 9 November 2020 (UTC)


 * Yes. I suggest that you read William D. Reeves, Paths to Distinction: Dr. James White, Governor E.D. White and Chief Justice Edward Douglass White of Louisiana (Friends of the Edward Douglass White Historic Site, 1999), pp.132-34 & 157. If you have some source for White's Klan membership, such as a membership roster, I would love to see it. Djogo (talk) 16:57, 12 November 2020 (UTC)


 * I see that someone is still claiming that White was a member of the Klan. The source's lack of veracity has already been addressed. Djogo
 * WP:Verifiability not WP:Truth. Here is a claim tht he was, but it opines that his views about race are not documented.  If you want to put WP:RS that discuss it pro and con, that would work.  7&amp;6=thirteen (☎) 17:31, 30 December 2020 (UTC)
 * No that cqpress article instead says there is one unverified report he was kkk. More complete is Paul Finkelman in American National Biography (2000) about that single report: "Although the moviemaker D. W. Griffith claimed White endorsed his racist movie, The Birth of a Nation (1915), and asserted that White had been in the Ku Klux Klan, there is no evidence to support either of Griffith’s contentions."  Rjensen (talk) 18:29, 30 December 2020 (UTC)