INFORMED BY OUR PAST: LAWYERING FOR RACIAL JUSTICE IN GEORGIA 

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2016 

4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. 

GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW  

85 Park Place, N.E.
Atlanta, Ga 30303
Ceremonial Courtroom

CLE HOURS:  2 CLE hours, including 1 Professionalism Hour 

Cost: If you choose to register for CLE from the Georgia Bar for this event,
you will be charged a fee of $25.00 which will be posted to
your Bar transcript at the end of 2016. 
If you do not choose to register for CLE, the seminar will be free. 

Registration: _____________ 

Co-Sponsors:  

The Atlanta Bar Association 

The Center for Access to Justice – GSU College of Law 

Black Law Students Association – GSU College of Law 

Atlanta Music Festival – atlantamusicfestival.org 

 4:00 – 4:05
   WELCOME and PROGRAM OVERVIEW:  Professor Natsu Saito 

           Georgia State University College of Law 

4:05 – 4:50
     "Informed By Our Past" -- Dr. Dwight Andrews, Associate Professor of Music at 

             Emory University and Senior Pastor at First Congregational Church, and  

             Charles Johnson, Holland & Knight 

This presentation will focus on the history of lawyering for racial justice in Atlanta  beginning with Reconstruction, continuing through the period of the 1906 race riots and ending with the work of prominent African American lawyer A.T. Walden 

4:50-5:00 
Break 

5:00-6:00
Lawyering for Racial Justice in Georgia – Contemporary Issues of Race, Criminal 

                          Justice and Voting Rights  

Charles Johnson, Holland & Knight, moderator 

Stephen Bright – Southern Center for Human Rights 

Representative Stacey Abrams – Georgia House of Representatives Minority 

Leader   

Professor Kathleen Cleaver -- Emory University School of Law

Gary Spencer    -- R. Gary Spencer, P.C. 

6:00-7:00 
   Social Hour: Drinks and light hors d’ouevres         

Unknown to most Atlantans, one hundred and ten years ago, the city suffered through violent race riots that left dozens dead.  This CLE was inspired by historical research into the causes of those riots and the efforts of lawyers and African American clergy to address racial justice in the aftermath of that violence.  The similarities of the issues—legal, political, economic, and cultural—presented to the community at that time and those we confront today are striking.  But there are, of course, differences.  The first part of this seminar will address the legal and cultural response to the 1906 riots.  The second hour will focus on contemporary issues of racial justice.  The panel will be asked to comment on the similarities and differences between racial justice issues of the past and present. Stephen Bright will discuss his victory before the United States Supreme Court in Foster v. Chatman, racial discrimination in jury selection as well as other current topics involving criminal defense and race discrimination.  R. Gary Spencer will address the issues raised by the representation of groups like "Black Lives Matter."  Representative Stacey Abrams will address voting rights and the recent litigation involving voter registration errors and other voter suppression strategies. 

The seminar is one of a series of cultural and educational events presented by the Atlanta Music Festival during the week of November 14-18, 2016.  The first Atlanta Music Festival (then called the Atlanta Colored Music Festival) occurred in 1910 and was one of the cultural responses to the riots that the African American members of First Congregational Church of Atlanta mounted under the leadership of their pastor, the Rev. Henry Hugh Proctor.  The concert series brought hundreds of black and white Atlantans together to hear performances of internationally renowned black classical musicians.  The Atlanta Music Festival revives that tradition and culminates this year on November 18th with a Gala concert featuring opera stars Jessye Norman and Timothy Miller, author Taylor Branch, Morehouse and Spelman Glee Clubs, the Meridian Chorale and the Vega String Quartet. (For tickets, go to atlantamusicfestival.org)   It is the story of these early attempts at racial reconciliation that inspired the seminar "Informed By Our Past: Lawyering for Racial Justice in Atlanta."