Biography
Alphaeus Hunton was a Black scholar and anti-colonial activist, a leader of the Council on African Affairs, and a trustee of the Civil Rights Congress Bail Fund.
Dr. W. In 1951 he was jailed for about six months for contempt after refusing to give a federal court the names of the fund's contributors.
John Q. Barrett’s 2017 legal history describes Hunton’s July 9, 1951 criminal-contempt conviction and immediate custody alongside Hammett. It says Hunton served slightly less than the imposed six months and qualifies his release as “on or about December 9.” The author, citing Field, identifies a segregated prison separately from Ashland but does not name it. No exact release day or borrowed Ashland placement is inferred.
Jackson, Vinson, Reed, and “Reds,” Journal of Law 7 (2017), pages 19–32.
The Guardian reports: Hunton remained jailed while prosecutors sought the source of his proposed personal cash bail. A bail order did not establish physical discharge. Contemporary account, page 6.
