CBA Record July-August 2024

Birth of the Modern U.S. Civil Rights Movement: Spotlight on Racism By Anthony F. Fata A cclaimed civil rights attorney Fred Gray, who co-authored Alabama v. King: Martin Luther King Jr.

10-cent fare. The driver instructed him to exit and re-enter through the back door. Brooks refused. The driver ordered him off the bus for good. Brooks said he would leave if refunded the fare. Incensed, the driver asked a police officer to remove Brooks. The officer boarded and, with the driver’s help, beat Brooks with a club. Brooks shook himself free and fled the bus. But the officer shot Brooks in the back, killing him. The injustice led Gray to law school, as he believed the law was a way to help Black people. He received his law degree from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, which he attended because Alabama did not allow Blacks to attend in-state law schools at the time. Following admission as the eighth Black member of the Ala bama bar, Gray opened his own firm. In 1955, he defended Claudette Colvin, a high school student prosecuted for refus ing to give up her bus seat. Later that year, he helped organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which began in December 1955 with Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat. Gray and other organizers designated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as spokesper son. Dr. King was unknown at the outset of the boycott—new to Montgomery, he had received no regional or national attention until that point. The bus boycott led to a 75% drop in ridership, decimated the Montgomery bus system’s finances, and was highly suc cessful. The State prosecuted its organizers under a law prohibiting boycotts without “just cause or legal reason.” Gray knew that a not guilty verdict was out of reach, given the Alabama court system’s per petuation of systemic racism and its belief that racism was not just cause to boycott.

and the Criminal Trial that Launched the Civil Rights Movement, and contributor David Fisher joined the CBA’s Law and Literature Committee and the DICE Initiative at a recent meeting to shine a spotlight on some of the legal strategies and courageous personal decisions that launched the modern civil rights move ment in the U.S. Gray has had a second-to-none career in the civil rights movement. His clients have included Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, John Lewis, the Freedom Riders, and the Tuskegee Study survi vors. Gray co-founded the Tuskegee His tory Center (www.tuskegeecenter.org), a museum and nonprofit organization focused on human and civil rights. He continues the fight for civil rights. David Fisher, who also contributed to State v Alabama, has authored over 20 New York Times bestsellers. The hybrid in-person/online event included opening remarks by Royal Berg and Justice Michael B. Hyman, who com mented that Gray’s work “launched” the civil rights movement. Khara Coleman, Robert Brunn, and Judge Russ Hartigan (Ret.) contributed, focusing on specific aspects of Gray’s work. Gray recounted the Montgomery, Ala bama, bus system’s historic mistreatment of Blacks. The segregationist laws, includ ing divided buses, were designed to quash Blacks’ hopes and dreams. And these laws were violently enforced. In 1950, for example, Thomas E. Brooks—an enlisted man in Army uniform—boarded a bus through the front door and paid the

Instead, Gray used the trial to shine a light on Montgomery’s systemic racism; most of White America was unaware that segregation was still rampant in the South. In effect, Gray and his colleagues put segregation on trial. The parties agreed that a single defen dant (not all organizers) should be tried. The parties agreed that it should be Dr. King. The State predicted Dr. King, a newcomer to Montgomery, would receive little sympathy. Instead, though, the trial and Gray’s defense introduced Dr. King’s powerful advocacy to America. Gray also called several courageous Black wit nesses to the stand who, for the first time in their lives, were able to confront their oppressors under protection of the law. Through State v. King, Gray and his colleagues shone a bright light on segrega tion, introduced to Dr. King to America, and launched the civil rights movement in the U.S. The meeting is archived at learn. chicagobar.org.

Anthony F. Fata is a partner at Kirby McInerney LLP and a CBA Record Editorial Board Member.

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GOOD Guys Overcoming Obstacles to Diversity August 1 | 1:30-3:00 p.m. | In-person Only at Saul Ewing LLP | IL Diversity/Inclusion PR-MCLE Credit Learn more at Learn.ChicagoBar.org | Co-sponsored by National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations

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