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James Turner was the deputy attorney general for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice from 1969-1994. This collection includes materials from his career with the Division, such as the work he did on the Viola Liuzzo murder case and the Rodney King Trial, as well as personal materials related to his own research and book drafts. Dates range from 1954-2014 and are arranged into sections based on the Civil Rights Division's Organization.

The James Turner Papers details Turner's career with the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. A small portion of the collection also includes materials from Turner's education and his personal research, such as the work he did for his two published books. Because most of this collection details the Civil Rights Division, it has been arranged to mirror the sections of the Civil Rights Division, with an additional section for materials that span across the Division. The majority of the collection are paper documents, with a small collection of cassette tapes, VHS, and photographs. This is not a complete history of the Civil Rights Division, but are the records of a former employee and so is focused on the work that Turner participated in for the Division. Significant topics include: the Viola Liuzzo Murder, the Rodney King trial, Gary T. Rowe, Kent State, and COINTELPRO.