UM Lawyer FALL/WINTER 2006-07 • Civil rights champion

Civil rights champion receives ABA award


Constance Slaughter-Harvey

The American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession has named Constance Slaughter-Harvey (JD 70) of Forest one of five recipients of the 2006 Margaret Brent Lawyers of Achievement Award.
The annual award recognizes female lawyers who have excelled in their field and paved the way for other women to succeed. Slaughter-Harvey was presented the award during an August ceremony in Honolulu, Hawaii, during the ABA annual meeting.

“This award was a significant honor, especially from female lawyers across the nation, and I accepted it with deepest humility,” Slaughter-Harvey said. “It is a reminder to me that there is much work to be done.”
Slaughter-Harvey has been a champion of civil rights since the 1960s, when a meeting with Medgar Evers inspired her to get involved in the civil rights movement and help bring change to Mississippi.

She was the first African-American woman to receive a law degree from The University of Mississippi and later led the fight for motor voter registration, becoming the first African American and the first woman member of the Motor Voter National Advisory Board.

In addition, she has championed causes benefiting minority and poor youth through the Slaughter Memorial Foundation. As its president, she supervises an after-school tutorial/enhancement program where she spends her free time teaching and mentoring children at risk.

Slaughter-Harvey founded East Mississippi Legal Services and was the first African American to serve as a judge in Mississippi. She has received numerous awards and honors, including the Susie Blue Buchanan Award in 2004, The University of Mississippi Law School Public Service Award in 2001 and the Mississippi Woman Lawyer of the Year in 2001.

The ABA Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, established in 1991, was named for the first woman lawyer in America, Margaret Brent. Winners of the award are selected on the basis of professional accomplishments and their role in opening doors for other women lawyers.