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Oral history.; Transcript of two interviews conducted on November 12, 1981 and February 6, 1982 with Judge J. P. Coleman. Coleman was born on December 9, 1914 in Fentress, Mississippi. After attending the University of Mississippi, he was invited to work in the election campaign of Congressional candidate Aaron Ford in 1934. When Ford won he asked Coleman to work as one of his two secretaries. In 1937, Coleman passed the bar exam and went on to get his law degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. in 1939. Upon his return to Mississippi, Coleman started a law practice until 1946 when he ran for District Attorney of the Fifth Circuit District of Mississippi and won. He served as District Attorney for two terms and in 1950 moved on to served as the Attorney General of Mississippi. In 1956, Coleman ran for governor of Mississippi and won. During his governorship, he also became a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives.