Whereas the late A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., dedicated his
life to eliminating racial barriers in the society of the United States;
Whereas, having grown up during the Great Depression and
the era of Jim Crow laws, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., overcame a childhood
marked by economic hardship and segregation;
Whereas, having personally experienced the effects of
racism, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., sought an education and career in law during
which he fought institutionalized racism in the United States judicial
system;
Whereas A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., began his legal career
as a law clerk to Justice Curtis Bok of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania and
soon became the youngest and first African-American Assistant District Attorney
in the city of Philadelphia;
Whereas, in 1954, when African Americans were largely
excluded from professional opportunities, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., became a
founding member of Norris, Schmidt, Green, Harris, & Higginbotham, the
first African-American law firm in Philadelphia;
Whereas, while still in private practice, A. Leon
Higginbotham, Jr., served as Special Deputy Attorney General for the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Special Hearing Officer in the Department of
Justice, President of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People, a member of the Executive Board of the
Governor’s Committee of One Hundred for Better Education, Commissioner of the
Pennsylvania Fair Employment Practices Commission, Commissioner of the
Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission, and a member of the board of directors
for various legal, political, and nonprofit organizations within
Pennsylvania;
Whereas, having been appointed by President John
Fitzgerald Kennedy to the Federal Trade Commission in 1962, A. Leon
Higginbotham, Jr., became not only the first African American to serve on a
Federal regulatory commission but also the youngest person to be named as a
Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission;
Whereas, having recognized A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.’s
gifts as both a lawyer and a public servant, both President Kennedy and
President Lyndon Baines Johnson nominated A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., as a
Federal judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania;
Whereas, upon confirmation as a Federal judge at the age
of 35, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., became the youngest person appointed to the
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and one
of the youngest ever appointed to a Federal bench;
Whereas, in his role as a Federal judge, A. Leon
Higginbotham, Jr., served as a mentor to numerous young attorneys, affording
them the opportunity to gain critical exposure to the legal profession;
Whereas A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., played an extraordinary
role in the civil rights movement as an advisor to President Johnson after the
tragic assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and as a member of the
National Commission on Causes and Prevention of Violence;
Whereas, as the first African-American member of the Yale
University Board of Trustees, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., successfully fought to
allow women to enroll as undergraduates in Yale College;
Whereas, in 1977, President Jimmy Carter acknowledged A.
Leon Higginbotham Jr.’s work as both a judge and a scholar and appointed him to
the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit;
Whereas A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr,. sat on the Court of
Appeals for 16 years and served as Chief Judge from 1989 until 1991 and as
Senior Judge through the completion of his public career in 1993;
Whereas, through his rulings and subsequent writing, A.
Leon Higginbotham, Jr., vigorously fought racial bias and prejudice;
Whereas, upon retirement from the bench, A. Leon
Higginbotham, Jr., became the Public Service Jurisprudence Professor at Harvard
University, dedicating the remainder of his life to educating and empowering
future generations to continue the pursuit of equal justice under the
law;
Whereas, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., served as the chairman
of an American Bar Association panel that in 1993 issued the landmark report
America’s Children at Risk: A National Agenda for Legal Action
,
studying the status of children in the society and legal system of the United
States;
Whereas, in 1993, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., served as
counsel to the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, & Garrison, where
he litigated a host of pro bono matters, including voting rights in Louisiana,
and advocated free elections in South Africa;
Whereas, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., brought his passion
for equal justice into the international arena as a consultant to the President
of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, on the formation of the Constitution of South
Africa, and as an advocate for grass roots democracy education in South
Africa;
Whereas, in 1995, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., continued his
commitment to public service when appointed by President William Jefferson
Clinton to the United States Commission on Civil Rights;
Whereas, as an author and contributor to more than 100
publications and academic works, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., left a legacy as a
renowned scholar of racial and social justice issues in the United
States;
Whereas, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.’s critically acclaimed
historical works, including In the Matter of Color: The Colonial
Period
, published in 1978, and Shades of Freedom: Racial
Politics and Presumptions in the American Legal Process
, published in
1996, continue to provide invaluable insight into the history of race relations
in the United States;
Whereas, as a sought-after public speaker, after his
retirement A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., delivered more than 100 speeches annually
to motivate the next generation of people in the United States to continue the
fight for racial justice;
Whereas A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., received numerous
honors and awards during his lifetime, including the Presidential Medal of
Freedom, the Raoul Wallenberg Humanitarian Award, the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People Spingarn Medal, the American Civil Liberties
Union Medal, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Philadelphia Bar
Association, the Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association,
America’s Ten Outstanding Young Men of 1963 from the United States Junior
Chamber of Commerce, and honorary degrees from more than 60 universities;
and
Whereas A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.’s work as an esteemed
jurist, scholar, and public servant helped transform the Nation’s perception of
race: Now, therefore, be it
That the Senate—
(1)commemorates the
life of the late A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.;
(2)salutes the
lasting legacy of A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.’s achievements; and
(3)encourages the
continued pursuit of A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.’s vision of eliminating racial
prejudice from all aspects of our society.