The American Bar Association Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice will honor racial justice and civil rights activist Eva Jefferson Paterson, co-founder and former president of the Equal Justice Society, with its Thurgood Marshall Award at a dinner celebration honoring her longtime career advancing civil rights during the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago. The award will be presented on Saturday, Aug. 3, at 7:30 p.m. CDT at the Fairmont Chicago at Millennium Park.
June 10, 2024 Top Legal News of the Week
Eva Jefferson Paterson to receive ABA Thurgood Marshall Award
“Eva Paterson has been one of this nation’s champions for civil rights throughout her 40-year career,” said Robin Runge, chair of the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice. “She has dedicated her life to fighting for equal access to education and opportunity, providing free legal services to low-income individuals, litigating civil rights cases and advocating for social justice for decades while leading ground-breaking campaigns against the death penalty, juvenile incarceration and discrimination based on sexual orientation. Eva epitomizes what it means to be a civil rights and social justice hero, and we have all benefited from her tireless commitment and tenacity.”
The award honors U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, who epitomized individual commitment, in word and action, to the cause of civil rights in this country, and recognizes similar long-term contributions by other members of the legal profession to the advancement of civil rights, social justice and human rights in the United States.
Paterson, who co-found the Equal Justice Society and served as its president from 2000-22, has worked to transform the nation’s consciousness on race through efforts in law, social science and the arts. She has presented before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judicial Conference on topics concerning white supremacy, implicit bias and affirmative action.
The author of numerous articles, including “Can’t We Get Along?” and “The Future of Affirmative Action” (California Lawyer), Paterson got her start in civil rights early. As a teen, she traveled around Illinois delivering Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Paterson was the first African American student government president at Northwestern University, where she led nonviolent protests following the 1970 shooting of student demonstrators at Kent State University and debated then-Vice President Spiro Agnew on live television.
Paterson is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Following her graduation, she worked for the Legal Aid Society of Alameda County and co-founded A Safe Place, a shelter for battered women in Oakland, California.
Related links:
- ABA Annual Meeting
- For more information about Eva Paterson and to register for the award presentation, click here
- Past recipients of the Thurgood Marshall Award
- ABA Journal