BHS Day 26: William T. Coleman

Hi! For our final ELM Spotlight of the month, I wanted to highlight a ground breaker in the Legal part of the category. I tried to make sure I covered all three categories this month so I hope you felt you were able to get a good idea of a pioneer in each field. Anyway, on to today's entrant. Like everyone else in the series, today's entrant broke barriers with his career accomplishments and allowed other Blacks to follow in the path he paved. Much like many of the other people in the series though, I never knew of today's entrant until I researched on my own as an adult. Again, like the other entrants, the work was worth it. Let's get started!

Name: William T. Coleman, 1947-2017 Profession: Lawyer Why is the Spotlight on him today? For his part in historic law cases, his dedication to fighting for civil rights, and his career accomplishments Notables: --was the second Black man to serve in a presidential cabinet when he was appointed to the head of the Department of Transportation --was an undergraduate member of Phi Beta Kappa --graduated summa cum laude with a double major in political science and economics --was the first Black US Supreme Court law clerk when he served under then-Justice Felix Frankfurter --served as Philadelphia's special counsel on transportation issues --helped author the briefs that led to the historic Brown v Board of Education ruling that outlawed segregation in schools --served on the Warren Commission, which was an investigation launched into the assassination of JFK --was one of the first Black staff members of The Harvard Law Review --throughout his career, served on the board of directors for multiple large companies, such as IBM, Washington Mutual, and Pan Am --argued in around 19 Supreme Court cases during his career --was co-chairman of the White House Conference on Civil Rights --was a US delegate to the United Nations --successfully argued the McLoughlin v Florida case, which overturned Pace v. Alabama when the court ruled that legislation deeming interracial cohabitation in the state of Florida to be illegal was unconstitutional --trained with the men who would become the Tuskegee Airmen during his time in the Air Force --was appointed by then-President Eisenhower to serve on the President's Commission on Employment Policy --successfully argued the Bob Jones University v. United States case, which ruled that the government did have the power to revoke the tax status of religious institutions who enforced discriminatory practices --served as General Counsel of the Army during the Clinton administration  --was president, then chairman, of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund --was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by then-President Bill Clinton Further reading links:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
Quote of the Day: 
"I don't think 'the first black this' or that to be relevant. I'm trying to make a reputation in this town that's not based on color."