“Horace T. Ward: Desegregation of the University of Georgia, Civil Rights Advocacy, and Jurisprudence”
Horace T. Ward was the first African American to sue for admission to an all-white college or university in Georgia. His protracted lawsuit for admission to the University of Georgia School of Law, though unsuccessful, played a pivotal role in the desegregation of higher education in Georgia a decade later. Ward went on to a distinguished and precedent-setting career as a civil rights litigator, state senator, and ultimately state superior court and federal court judge–the first appointment of an African American to these judicial positions. Dr. Maurice C. Daniels not only chronicles Ward’s struggle and achievements but contextualizes them within the history of desegregation and civil rights. In meticulous scholarly detail, Daniels recounts the formative role of the NAACP and the perseverance and courage of African American students and lawyers who challenged segregation. In recounting Ward’s story and its surrounding events, Daniels has brought together an impressive array of archival materials, collections of personal papers, court records, and news coverage, along with a wealth of personal interviews by the author.
The Foot Soldier Project for Civil Rights Studies 