by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
A renowned civil rights attorney whose early cases rose from the turbulence of the 1960s will be the keynote speaker at the D.W. Perkins Bar Association’s 2004 Scholarship Awards Banquet.
Fred D. Gray — who represented Rosa Parks and was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s first civil rights lawyer — will focus on education during his speech Oct. 23 at the Adam’s Mark Hotel.
A reception begins at 6 p.m. The program begins at 7.
The theme for the banquet is “Invest in Our Future: Rise to the Challenge of Educating Our Children.”
About 450 people attended last year. The Perkins Bar expects around 500 people will be at the banquet this year.
“Our theme is focused on education for a couple of reasons,” said Tammy Butler, treasurer of the Perkins Bar and an attorney with Driver & McAfee. “It’s the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. the Board of Education, and there are the issues with education here in Duval County. We’re trying to get everyone involved in the education of our youth.
“Fred Gray is the perfect speaker to help us celebrate the strides that have been made in education. It is an honor to have him as our guest speaker, and we encourage the community to join us.”
For the second consecutive year, proceeds from the evening will benefit scholarships established last year at Florida Coastal School of Law. The awards help students who have excelled academically during law school but need financial help to pay for the expense of preparing for The Florida Bar exam.
The number of students who receive help depends on the amount of money raised and the number of applications submitted to the Perkins Bar.
“We got five applications last year, and we were able to help them all,” said Butler. “We’re expecting that number to increase, with the increased number of minorities at Florida Coastal.”
Most of the money raised in the past was donated to the United Negro College Fund. The UNCF will get another donation this year if the banquet and separate corporate contributions raise enough money.
Gray had barely been out of law school for two years when, in 1955, he represented Rosa Parks, who had been arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. The incident sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
The list of civil rights cases he has won may be found in most constitutional law texts. They include:
• Browder v. Gayle, which integrated the buses in Montgomery in 1956.
• Gomillion v. Lightfoot, decided in 1960. The landmark case opened the door for redistricting and reapportioning the legislative bodies across the nation and laid the foundation for the concept of “one man, one vote.”
• Williams v. Wallace, decided in 1965. The class action suit resulted in Gov. George Wallace and the State of Alabama being ordered to protect marchers as they walked from Selma to Montgomery to protest their being denied the vote. The publicity led to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Gray is the senior partner in the firm of Gray, Langford, Sapp, McGowan, Gray & Nathanson, with offices in Montgomery and Tuskegee. He still practices civil rights law in Montgomery.
The cost of attending the banquet is a $60 donation per person. Tickets are available by calling Tammy Butler at 301-1265 or by e-mail at [email protected].
Tickets may also be available at the door.
“Last year, we did sell out, so we’re encouraging everyone to get their tickets early,” said Butler.
The Perkins Bar, composed mainly of African American lawyers practicing in Jacksonville, was founded in 1968 in honor of Daniel Webster Perkins, the first African American lawyer to be allowed to select white jurors in Jacksonville.