L.A. attorney discusses role of local historian in civil rights
by: DEON J. HAMPTON World Staff Writer
Thursday, April 08, 2010
4/8/2010 5:31:14 AM
The United States perpetually faces divisions and discrimination, a Los Angeles civil rights attorney told University of Tulsa law students Wednesday night.
Connie Rice also spoke of her deep admiration for the late historian John Hope Franklin, a Tulsa native, during the 10th annual Buck Colbert Franklin Memorial Civil Rights lecture.
John Hope Franklin, the son of the lecture’s namesake, was a civil rights-movement legend and an expert on the case that integrated public schools, she said, referring to his service on the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Franklin worked with Thurgood Marshall on Brown v. Board of Education, which resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court decision to end segregation in public schools.
Rice, a cousin of former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, joined the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in 1991 and became co-director of its Los Angeles office in 1996.
About 40 TU law students, alumni, professors and judges attended the lecture in the Price & Turpen Courtroom on campus.
Before the lecture, Rice, who graduated from Harvard University and later earned a law degree from the New York University School of Law, said she always aspired to make an impact on policy.
“I went to law school to figure how to make the law system work for people who weren’t in power,” she said.
Rice said she has long stood on the shoulders of trailblazers such as John Hope Franklin, who she said made sacrifices for social and racial progress.
She called Franklin a national treasure who exemplified uncommon grace.
In 1999 and 2000, the publication California Law Business named Rice one of that state’s 10 most influential lawyers. Even with her accolades, Rice doesn’t foresee running for political office.
“I would be impeached in 10 minutes,” she joked.
Rice said if she could enact a law, it would be a constitutional amendment for basic rights and responsibilities, such as freedom from violence.
Rice is also the co-founder of the Advancement Project in Los Angeles. Founded in 1999, the project focuses on changing public systems that can greatly help or hinder low-income and vulnerable people.
Deon J. Hampton 581-8413
deon.hampton@tulsaworld.com
