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Charles Swinger Conley

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Charles Swinger Conley
Born(1921-07-12)12 July 1921
Montgomery, Alabama
Died9 September 2010(2010-09-09) (aged 88)
Montgomery, Alabama
Burial placeGreenwood Cemetery (Montgomery, Alabama), USA[1]
Alabama Legal Defense Committee, Montgomery, 1968-1980[2]
In office
1968–1980

Charles Swinger Conley (1921-2010) was an Montgomery County attorney, civil rights leader and Alabama's first Black judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Macon County. He served as attorney of record for Martin Luther King Jr.,[3] the Montgomery Improvement Association, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.[4]

Early life and education

Born in Montgomery County in 1921, Conley attended private school, earning his bachelor's degree from Alabama State College following graduation from high school. He gained a history masters at University of Michigan and a jurisprudence degree from New York University Law School.[5][6]

Career

After attorney Conley returned to Montgomery he worked on many civil rights cases including the desegregation of public libraries[7] and New York Times Co. v. Sullivan,[8] representing many notable people including Martin Luther King, Ralph Abernathy,[9] Joseph Lowery, Solomon Snowden Seay[10] and Fred Shuttlesworth.[11][12] The New York Times Co. v. Sullivan case revolved around an appeal to raise funding called "Heed Their Rising Voices" by the Committee to Defend Martin Luther King and the Struggle for Freedom in the South, which appeared in the New York Times newspaper in 1960.[13][14]

A protest starting on February 1, 1960, at the Alabama State College campus had been aggressively attended by Montgomery police, triggering the appeal. Following the New York Times call to action a libel suit was filed by police commissioner L. B. Sullivan.[15] Attorneys Conley and Fred Gray represented accused students in local, state and federal courtrooms. The intervention resulted in restaurants and lunch-counters in 26 southern cities ending segregationist policies. Discrimination against African Americans continued in Montgomery but segregation had been effectively disputed allowing expansion of the movement to overturn racial injustice.[16]

Attorney Conley was elected in 1972 as Alabama's first Black judge of the Court of Common Pleas (Macon County).[17] This court system changed to that of a District Court, and Judge Conley was re-elected in 1976.[5] Conley served as attorney of record for cases until 1992, when he officially retired.

Legacy

Before Conley's death, he had made provisions for a $1.2 million donation to his Alma mater to create the Honorable Charles Swinger Conley Scholarship Fund within the AnBryce Program at the New York University School of Law.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Charles Swinger Conley". find a grave. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  2. ^ "N V R I, National Voting Rights Institute". www.nvri.net. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  3. ^ "Conley, Charles. Online King Records Access (OKRA)". okra.stanford.edu. Retrieved 4 February 2019.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ King, Jr., Martin Luther. "SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE, Annual Report October 1960 - September 1961" (PDF). Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  5. ^ a b c Patton, Gwendolyn M. "Charles Conley Collection, Trenholm State Community College". www.trenholmstate.edu. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  6. ^ Adcock, Thomas (26 September 2011). "Charles Conley (1921-2010)". The Law School, Magazine of the New York University School of Law. Full Circle Color: 117. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  7. ^ Graham, Patterson T. (2002). A right to read : segregation and civil rights in Alabama's public libraries, 1900-1965. University of Alabama Press. p. 77. ISBN 0817311440. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  8. ^ "FindLaw's United States Supreme Court case and opinions". Findlaw. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  9. ^ "Ralph D. Abernathy et al., Appellants, v. John Patterson, Individually and As Governor of Alabama, et al., Appellees, 295 F.2d 452 (5th Cir. 1961)". Justia Law. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  10. ^ "4 IN SUIT TO OPEN RESTITUTION FIGHT; Lawyer for Negro Clerics Says Property Was Sold". The New York Times. 10 March 1964. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  11. ^ "PDF, SCLC Newsletter, Vol. 1, September 1961, no. 3" (PDF). Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  12. ^ Gray, Fred D. (2012). Bus ride to justice : changing the system by the system : the life and works of Fred Gray, preacher, attorney, politician (Rev.. 2013 ed.). NewSouth Books. p. 175. ISBN 978-1588382863.
  13. ^ Dellinger, Walter. "The New York Times: The Right To Be Wrong". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  14. ^ Amendment XV. March 19, 1960. p. 20. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  15. ^ McLeod, Rod (10 March 1964). "HIGH COURT CURBS PUBLIC OFFICIALS IN LIBEL ACTIONS; It Rules for New York Times and 4 Negro Ministers in Alabama Suit on Ad; DECISION IS UNANIMOUS; Says Malice Must Be Shown —Opinion Likely to Aid Press Freedom in South". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  16. ^ Robinson, Dr. Howard. "Historical Perspective of the Alabama State University Student Sit-Ins, February 25 - March 30, 1960" (PDF). The Student Sit-In Movement at Alabama State University, A One Day Conference. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  17. ^ Wingard, Desmond. "Well known Montgomery judge and civil rights leader passes away". WSFA. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
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