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"...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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Edward A. ("E.A.") Dawley Jr.
Joseph A. Jordan
Leonard W. ("Len") Holt
National Lawyers Guild Luminaries
The popular history of Civil Rights litigation is about epochal courtroom victories, such as Brown v. Board of Ed.
Almost forgotten are the hundreds
of African American attorneys who faced hostile, white judges day after day for years, even decades. Appearing at all in Jim Crow courtrooms was an act of
public resistance, demanding the courage of Black lawyers and clients alike, and infusing their communities far beyond the court house square with awareness
and dignity.
The robed representatives of the white pow! er structure dismissed uncountable thousands of suits, often ruling summarily from the bench and refusing ordinary
professional courtesy to the Black lawyers before them.
Even so, those few Black professionals who forced their state bars to admit them understood and
strategically used the unspoken fact of litigation: That a legal conflict forces a client into the public sphere; that, by engaging a public conflict,
together, Black clients and Black lawyers changed their own, their communities', and the white power structure's perception of what was possible.
The
victories that were thus won occurred outside the four corners of any particular case.
For persevering in the face of implacable, racist judicial hostility, E.A. Dawley, Joe Jordan, and Len Holt are Natio! nal Lawyers Guild Luminaries.
Early in their careers in
Norfolk, Virginia, law partners Dawley,
Jordan, and Holt litigated bravely and lost frequently.
Dismissed: Dawley v. City of Norfolk -- An ambitious 1959 public accommodations suit.
Dismissed: Thornton et al. v. Trailways Bus Co. et al. -- In August 1960, the sit-in movement came to the Norfolk bus station. The
arrested Black men and women sought an injunction against racially-segregated waiting rooms, restaurant, and rest rooms.
And those who persevere do sometimes prevail.
Won: Holt et al. v. Virginia, 381 U.S. 131 (1965) -- In 1961, the white supremacists of Hopewell, Virginia, brought a specious libel suit against
Black civil rights organizers, whom Dawley defended. He got the case dismissed, but the circuit judge held Dawley in contempt. Representing his law partner,
Holt moved for change of venue and for the judge's recusal. The judge denied the motions and held Holt in contempt. Justice Hugo Black wrote for the Court:
The words used in the motions were plain English, in no way
offensive in themselves, and wholly appropriate to charge
bias in the community and bias of the presiding judge. The
truth or falsity of these charges was not heard, the trial court choosing instead to convict and sentence petitioners for having done nothing more than make
the charges. These petitioners
have been punished by Virginia for doing nothing more than exercising the constitutional right of an accused and his counsel.
Career highlights:
1962 -- Holt & Dawley traveled to the NLG annual convention in Detroit and inspired the founding of the Committee to Assist Southern Lawyers. As the
sit-in movement took off, they were defending literally thousands of civil rights activists.
1963 -- With Arthur Kinoy & William Kunstler, successfully spared Thomas Wansley, an African American man, the death penalty in the alleged rape of a
white woman. The case also established the requirement (previously lacking) in Virginia that capital trials be stenographically recorded and transcribed.
Wansley was finally freed in the mid-70s.
1965 -- Holt published his still-cited civil rights history, The Summer That Didn~Rt End: The Story of the Mississippi Civil Rights Project of 1964
(out of print, but used copies are available on-line).
Later in their careers, Dawley and Holt practiced in Oakland, California with John George.
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