637 South Dearborn Street, Third Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60605
Ph: 312-913-0039
Fax: 312-913-0045
contact@nlgchicago.org
www.nlgchicago.org
"...to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests."
The National Lawyers Guild is dedicated to the need for basic and progressive change in the structure of our political and economic system. Through its members -- lawyers, law students, jailhouse lawyers, and
legal workers united in chapters and committees -- the Guild works locally, nationally and internationally as an effective political and social force in the service of the people.
Our aims:
. to eliminate racism;
. to safeguard and strengthen the rights of workers, women, farmers and minority groups, upon whom the welfare of the entire nation depends;
. to maintain and protect our civil rights and liberties in the face of persistent attacks upon them;
. to use the law as an instrument for the protection of the people, rather than for their repression.
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George W. Crockett Jr.
August 10, 1909 — September 7, 1997
A National Lawyers Guild Luminary
Born in Jacksonville, FL.
B.A., Morehouse, 1931.
J.D., University of Michigan, 1934.
First African-American lawyer in the U.S. Department of Labor.
Founded first racially-integrated law firm in Detroit.
Represented the United Auto Workers Fair Practices Committee, which tried to
oppose "hate strikes" by white workers, protesting the migration North by Black
workers.
1949 - Sentenced by Judge Harold Medina to 4 months in Federal prison for
contempt of court, for the "crime" of providing zealous representation
in a "Smith Act" case to an unpopular defendant -- a member of
the Communist Party.
1952 - Represented future Detroit mayor Coleman Young and the Rev. Charles
Hill before the House Un-American Affairs Committee.
Former NLG National Vice-President.
Spring, 1964 - Recruited lawyers to defend civil rights workers in
Mississippi, and organized their training session in Detroit. Opened the National
Lawyers Guild's office in Jackson, Mississippi. Managed the Mississippi Project (a
coalition of the NLG and other leading civil rights legal organizations) during the
1964 Freedom Summer.
June, 1964 - dispatched 2 cars of young lawyers to search for James E.
Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, who had been arrested by local police.
NLG legal workers took statements from witnesses near the ruins of a Black church that
had been torched by white supremacist arsonists; the witnesses said that they saw
police take the 3 civil rights volunteers away. George Crockett drove to Meridian to
investigate, and later recounted how the sheriff had tried to set him up by loudly
offering driving directions, as more white supremacists loitered nearby. He made it
back to Jackson safely. He offered a full report to the Justice Department and the
FBI, who refused to take the information. The murdered bodies of the ! 3 young men, 1
Black, 2 white, were found days later.
1966 - Elected Judge of Recorders Court, Wayne County, MI.
March 1969 - As a criminal court judge, released most of the 142 persons,
including juveniles, arrested inside New Bethel Baptist Church following a
police-involved shooting outside the church. A young Detroit police officer died.
Responding (mostly white) officers fired into and stormed the church. The Republic of
New Afrika
had
rented the church for a meeting. In refusing to find probable cause to hold the
people from the "collective punishment" mass arrest, Judge Crockett incurred the
wrath of the white corporate media and endured death threats during a time when bumper
stickers read, "Sock It to Crockett."
Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, at the age of 70, in 1980.
Represented Michigan's Thirteenth Congressional District for a decade. Defended the
interests of his urban constituents during the Reagan years. Gained international
prominence in denouncing Apartheid in South Africa.
Honored with a middle school and a 9th-Grade charter school in Detroit in
his name.
Honored by the Detroit NAACP with a "Community Law School" program in his name: http://www.detroitnaacp.org/specialprograms/crockettlawschool.asp
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