Civil Rights Lawyer Fred D. Gray to Speak at Annual MLK Luncheon January 16

By Karen W. Murray

The King County Bar Association’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Luncheon Committee is honored and privileged to announce that the renowned civil rights lawyer Fred D. Gray, will be our guest speaker for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Luncheon.

Mr. Gray began his legal career as a sole practitioner almost immediately out of law school, and at the young age of twenty-four he represented Mrs. Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat to a white man on a city bus, the action which initiated the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Mr. Gray also served as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s first civil rights lawyer. Mr. Gray’s introduction to these two individuals changed his life forever, leading him to begin his 45-year odyssey in civil rights law.

Throughout his career, Mr. Gray has been involved with ground breaking civil rights cases which, due to their just results, have changed the lives of all people, not only African Americans.

Numerous cases demonstrate this point. Browder v. Gayle resulted in the integration of buses in the City of Montgomery (1956).

Gomillion v. Lightfoot returned African Americans to the city limits of the City of Tuskegee (1960); this case opened the door for redistricting and reapportioning the various legislative bodies across the nation, thus laying the foundation for the concept of one man, one voice.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. State of Alabama, ex rel. John Patterson, Attorney General, was brought by the State of Alabama in an attempt to prevent the NAACP from doing business in the State of Alabama. After many arguments before the state Supreme Court and the federal court system, the NAACP was able to resume its business of protecting the rights of African Americans in the State of Alabama.

Williams v. Wallace was a class action suit brought by African Americans against Governor Wallace and the State of Alabama, resulting in the court ordering Governor Wallace and the State of Alabama to protect marchers as they walked from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to present grievances as a result of not being allowed to vote. The publicity of these actions led to the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Lastly, Pollard v. United States of America, dealt with the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study, where, beginning in 1932, the United States Government induced rural black males in and around Macon County, Alabama to participate in the study. The government neither informed participants if they were infected with syphilis, nor provided treatment. Although the case was eventually settled and the government was ordered to continue providing treatment to the study participants, Mr. Gray was not satisfied.

In 1997, Mr. Gray approached President Clinton and argued forcefully that these participants deserved an official apology from the U.S. Government. In May of that year, President Clinton issued an official apology. Still believing, however, that more should be done in recognition of the pain, suffering and mistrust experienced by the participants of the Tuskegee Study, Mr. Gray envisioned a memorial in their honor. He became the moving force in the establishment of the Tuskegee Human and Civil Rights Multi-Cultural Center. When the Center is fully developed, it is his vision that it will serve not only as a memorial to the participants of the Study, but that it may also educate the public on the many contributions to the field of human and civil rights made by Native Americans. African Americans, and Americans of European descent. Mr. Gray will donate the entire honorarium for the January 16 luncheon to the Tuskegee Human and Civil Rights Multi-Cultural Center.

Mr. Gray is an exemplar of the teachings of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and what the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Luncheon is all about.

Please join us on Friday, January 16, 2004 at 11:30 a.m. at Plymouth Congregational Church to celebrate the philosophy and life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Tickets to the luncheon cost $30 for general admission and $15 for students and law clerks. You may purchase tickets by completing the form on the back page of this edition of the Bar Bulletin, or by calling Anita Spencer at (206) 370-5887.