Conversation with Judge Thelton Henderson, 2/10
Please join us for a very special discussion with United States District of Northern California Judge Thelton Henderson.
Judge Thelton Henderson is one of the most inspiring and accomplished civil rights leaders of our time.
The focus of this intimate discussion will be on the lessons that Judge Henderson would share with the next generation of civil rights activists, attorneys, organizers and public servants.
The conversation will be moderated by Lateefah Simon, Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. The event is co-sponsored by Citizen Hope and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.
All are welcome. This event is free. Please spread the word.
RSVP HERE: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=277422648570&ref=nf
Wednesday Feb 10th
5:30pm-7pm
African American Art and Culture Complex
Judge Henderson’s Bio from UC Berkeley Law School:
“One of only two African-American students in the Boalt Hall class of 1962, Thelton started his legal career as the first black attorney at the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice. He went South to investigate voting rights abuses and soon confronted the challenge of being a black man in authority within the largely white world of the American legal system. He became a bridge between the Kennedy Justice Department and the leaders of the civil rights movement whom he came to know when they were all forced to lodge in the same segregated motels throughout the South. As a young lawyer and a representative of the federal government, Henderson grappled with many tough choices, including the decision to loan his car to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. one fateful night, a crucial act which ultimately cost him his job.
Returning to California , Henderson became the first legal aid attorney in East Palo Alto once again forging a new path. Distressed to learn that neigboring Stanford Law School had only graduated its first black attorney in 1968, Thelton became its Assistant Dean in charge of recruiting students of color. When he left Stanford in 1976 to practice law, twenty percent of the entering class were students of color and Henderson ’s program became a nationwide model. While Henderson was in private practice, he was nominated to the federal bench. Selected by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 to sit in the Northern District of California, Thelton Henderson became the only African-American judge on that court for ten years. He was selected as its first black Chief Judge in 1990 and served in that post until 1997.
Throughout his distinguished career on the federal bench, Judge Henderson has ruled upon many of the most critical and difficult issues of our time. From halting the slaughter of dolphins by the tuna fishing industry, to striking down California ’s controversial affirmative action initiative, to his recent decision placing the California prison health care system under federal receivorship, Thelton Henderson has demonstrated his conviction that the U.S. Constitution belongs to everyone.”
Video Clips about Judge Henderson
