While the United States continues to fight racial injustices in the 21st century, advocates say there is a crucial need for a new generation of qualified lawyers dedicated to serving black communities in the south.
But students need to take on more and more debt to pay for their studies in recent years, as a result of the dizzying cost of law school, making it more difficult for hopeful change makers to pursue lower-paid fields of law such as civil and human rights. .
A new scholarship program aims to help.
The Marshall-Motley Scholarship Program, announced Monday by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, is designed to remove financial and professional barriers that often discourage students from pursuing civil rights law as a future career.
The program, made possible by a $ 40 million investment from an anonymous donor, will support 50 aspiring lawyers over the next five years, providing full scholarship to law school for tuition, accommodation and meals. Such assistance will allow students to graduate debt-free from law school, removing the financial barrier that can discourage students from pursuing a career in racial justice.
Fellows will also participate in summer internships at the beginning of their studies. Upon graduation, they will be part of a two-year scholarship at a national or regional civil rights organization with racial justice practice in the south.
In return, academics must commit to practicing civil rights law with the pursuit of racial justice in one of the 18 southern states for at least eight years after the scholarship ends.
The program was named after two civil rights legends: Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley. Marshall worked as the founder of the LDF and was the first black judge of the Supreme Court, while Motley served as a former lawyer for the LDF and was the first black woman to become a federal judge.
“The Marshall-Motley Scholarship Program will not only honor the transformative legacy of civil rights from Judge Thurgood Marshall and Judge Constance Baker Motley, but will also build a framework to ensure that new and sustainable generations of civil rights warriors are committed with greater equity and racial justice in the south, “Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin said in a statement.
Offering full scholarships and covering other costs associated with law school and requiring students to complete training, internships and graduate work “will present a new cohort of energized and dedicated legal minds to create real progress in the region,” he said. Benjamin.
The American Bar Association estimated that the cost of private education at a law school has increased by more than 175% since the 1980s.
Making things more difficult: the association also found that black lawyers, on average, graduate with $ 25,000 to $ 40,000 more in student debt than their white colleagues.
Jino Ray, director of the Marshall-Motley Scholars Program and a former law student, is well aware of this struggle.
“I had to figure out how to navigate the pipeline alone and I incurred a lot of debt in doing so,” said Ray.
Ray, who was born in rural Cairo, Georgia, said he saw “how deeply systemic racism is rooted in American life”.
But he also saw how recent events, including the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, have brought some of these issues to the forefront of the minds of many Americans.
“The events changed the energy and made the nation rise, so you have a very collaborative approach to ending inequality and racism in the United States,” said Ray. “So I think this program, being committed to supporting and developing the next wave of civil rights lawyers in the South, this is really critical. ”
During the 1960s and early 1970s, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund invested heavily in the creation of black law firms in the south.
“If we look at the value of this investment … to be able to replicate that kind of impact on this scale with 50 new academics going to the South, the LDF is really deepening its long-standing presence in the South,” said Ray.
The launch of the new grant, which coincides with Martin Luther King Jr. Day, takes place at the moment the NAACP Legal Defense Fund celebrates the 80th anniversary of its foundation.
First-year law students from across the country can apply for the scholarship program, Ray said. They can attend the school of their choice, as long as it is accredited by the American Bar Association.
Candidates must already be interested in pursuing a career in civil rights and need to have “strong ties” to improve outcomes for marginalized communities in the south.
The application deadline is February 16th. To learn more about MMSP and / or to apply, visit MarshallMotleyScholars.org.
Contact Jenna Schiferl at 843-937-5764. Follow her on Twitter at @jennaschif.