Spotlight on desegregation advocate A. P. Tureaud
Alexander Pierre Tureaud, a New Orleansâ“born lawyer, was instrumental in advancing equal rights in numerous areas of life in Louisiana. Harvard law professor Randall Kennedy will speak about the civil rights leader as the Dreyfous Lecturer on Civil Liberties and Human Rights at Tulane Law School on March 10. (Photo by Rachel L. Emanuel)
The late Alexander Pierre Tureaud, a civil rights activist and New Orleansâ“born lawyer who was instrumental in advancing equal rights in numerous areas of life in Louisiana, will be the focus of a lecture at Tulane University. Among other achievements, Tureaud represented black plaintiffs who helped integrate Louisiana State University in the 1950s and a white client who wanted to attend historically black Grambling State University in the "60s.
Giving the George Abel and Mathilde Schwab Dreyfous Lecture on Civil Liberties and Human Rights on Tuesday (March 10) will be Harvard University law professor Randall Kennedy. He says he might not have been hired by Harvard (where he taught the future Michelle Obama in the 1980s) if not for affirmative action, a practice he defends. His positions on issues surrounding race in America are not predictable.
Kennedy brings his ideas to Tulane Law School for the event that is scheduled for 4 p.m. in the Wendell H. Gauthier Appellate Moot Court Room 110, with a reception to follow.
Tureaud worked with Thurgood Marshall on litigation to raise the pay of black teachers in New Orleans" racially segregated schools to the level of white teachers, and on a later case that legalized protests at whites-only businesses and restaurants.
Tureaud"s efforts helped desegregate New Orleans public facilities including City Park, Audubon Park, public buses, the municipal auditorium and the airport restaurant. His papers are housed at the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University.
Kennedy, who is the Michael R. Klein Professor at Harvard, teaches courses on contracts, criminal law and the regulation of race relations. His numerous books have explored such topics as racial politics and the Obama presidency; interracial marriage and adoption; persistent divides based on color; and the use of the N-word which he spells out in a 2002 book subtitled The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word.
Linda P. Campbell is Tulane Law School"s director of communications
The endowed lecture, established in 1965, honors a pair of community activists who dedicated their lives to advancing civil liberties for all.
