Each year at the National Convention, the NAACP Legal Department honors attorneys who have gone above and beyond the call of duty on behalf of the Association and its civil rights agenda. This award is given to attorneys for their generous contribution of legal expertise to the NAACP on a pro bono basis. The honorees are typically nominated by an NAACP Unit or by the NAACP Legal, where the attorney has assisted the NAACP on a National Level.
Each year at its National Convention, the NAACP awards the Juanita Jackson Mitchell Legal Activism Award to an NAACP Unit for exemplary legal redress committee activities.
Mrs. Juanita Jackson Mitchell, the first African American woman admitted to the Maryland bar, was a teacher and civil rights activist who served the NAACP as president of the Baltimore City Branch, where she chaired the legal redress committee and founded the NAACP's Youth Program. She fought discrimination in the courts and in the community. She served as counsel in suits to eliminate segregation in municipal recreation facilities, restaurants and public schools in Baltimore City and throughout Maryland. She championed Baltimore school desegregation, making Maryland the first southern state to integrate its school system after the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown versus Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.
The NAACP William Robert Ming Advocacy Award is presented annually at the National Convention to a lawyer who best exemplifies the spirit and contributions of the late Mr. Ming by providing their legal services without regard for financial remuneration on behalf of the NAACP.
Fred Gray receiving the Ming Award in 2006.
William Robert Ming was born on May 7, 1911 in Chicago, Illinois. He received a PhD degree in 1931 and his J.D. degree in 1933 from the University of Chicago in Illinois. Mr. Ming was then admitted to the bar in 1933 and began to practice law in various capacities, public and private. In addition to being a distinguished lawyer and professor at the Law Schools of Howard University and University of Chicago, Bob Ming was an active and highly articulate social action leader in the struggle for human equality. He was one of the architects of the strategy leading to the historic decision in Brown v. Board of Education, and other landmark decisions, including NAACP v. Alabama, Sweatt v. Painter, Mclaurin v. Oklahoma, Sipuel v. Board of Regents, Ward v. Texas, NAACP v. City of Jackson, Missouri ex rd Gaines v. Canada, and Fourth District Committee of the Virginia State Bar v. S.W. Tucker.
Robert Ming also served in other capacities such as ACLU counsel, National Veterans' Organization President, and Illinois Commerce Commission attorney. He was a member of the Chicago NAACP Branch and the Illinois state Conference of the NAACP. He was a member of the Convention Committee. He was a member of the NAACP National Board of Directors and served as permanent convention chair. He died on June 30, 1973.
The Ming Award was created by the NAACP National Board of Directors in April 1974 and is awarded annually to a lawyer who exemplifies the spirit of financial and personal sacrifice that Mr. Ming displayed in his legal work for the NAACP.
Branches and State Conferences may make nomination and submit them to the General Counsel, on or before June 1st of each year. A special panel set up for this purpose will make the selection of the awardees. The presentation will be made at the Annual Convention.
To be eligible, a nominee must be a lawyer who has, through the use of litigation, unselfishly endeavored to carry out the policies and programs of the NAACP. Previous winners of this prestigious award are: Alvin McSurely (2005); Professor Charles Ogletree (2004); Thomasina Williams (2003); L. Clifford Davis (2002); Randolph Scott McLaughlin (2001); John W. Davis (2000); Thomas Atkins (1999); Honorable Joyce Alexander (1998); Honorable H. Logan (1997); James F. Walton (1996); Earl Trent (1995); Hilbert L. Bradley (1994); Professor John C. Brittain (1993); Franklin E. Breckenridge (1982); Nathaniel S. Colley (1981); Oliver W. Hill (1980); Theodore Berry (1979); Phillip Burton (1978); Arthur Shores (1977); Samuel Tucker (1976); and Jack Young (1975).
NAACP National Headquarters
4805 Mt. Hope Drive
Baltimore MD 21215
Toll Free:
(877) NAACP-98
Local:
(410) 580-5777
© 2009 NAACP
All Rights Reserved
