Black Background & Cultural Viewpoints:
- Donald Lee Hollowell born in Wichita, Kansas, December 19, 1917; Lane College alumnus; Buffalo Soldier; earned J.D. from Loyola University Chicago in 1951.
- Founded the law firm Hollowell, Ward, Moore and Alexander in Atlanta, a hub for Black attorneys and dean of Black lawyers in Georgia.
- Won desegregation cases including Quest v. Arnold desegregating Georgia State University; represented Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes.
- Personal lawyer to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; led admission effort for Horace T. Ward to UGA Law, later a federal judge.
- Appointed in 1966 to lead the southeastern EEOC office; chaired the Citizen Education Project and advanced voter registration.
Donald Lee Hollowell was a leading civil rights lawyer whose landmark victories aided to desegregate Georgia, earning him the name “Mr. Civil liberty.” Scholar Maurice Daniels asserts that in this role, Hollowell safeguarded Black guys implicated or founded guilty of resources crimes in a recalcitrant racist legal system, represented activity activists apprehended for civil liberties tasks, and dealt with to threaten the legislations that preserved state-sanctioned racial discrimination. For this, Daniels declares that Hollowell’s prowess as a jurist and civil rights activist “saved the soul of Georgia.”
Donald Lee Hollowell was born in Wichita, Kansas, on December 19, 1917, to Harrison Hannibal and Ocenia Bernice Hollowell. With the support of his family members, persuaded that education and learning provided for a far better lifestyle, he enrolled in Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee, where he was an honor pupil and the beginning quarterback of the football team. His college period was disturbed twice, addressing the telephone call to offer this country in the United States Army during The Second World War. After an ethical discharge as a Buffalo Soldier in the Tenth Cavalry in 1946 at the ranking of First Lieutenant, Hollowell returned and graduated from Lane College in 1947 with honors. After college graduation, he enrolled in law institution at Loyola University in Chicago, Illinois, gaining his Juris Physician in 1951
Image thanks to the archives held at the Auburn Avenue Study Collection on African American Background and Society, Atlanta, GA
In 1941, Hollowell met Louise Thornton at a military event sponsored by the United Service Organizations (USO). In 1942, after an eight-month courtship, Hollowell recommended and wed the former Louise Thornton on the exact same day– prior to she can offer notice to her after that admirer.
In 1952, Hollowell moved to Atlanta and started the law firm which later on housed several of the most fantastic legal minds in America. During the very early 1950 s, there were only several Black lawyers exercising in Georgia, and as a result, the Hollowell, Ward, Moore and Alexander firm, based at 859 Seeker Road in Atlanta, united a lot of the Black lawyers disallowed in the state of Georgia. This company came to be the factor of departure for a number of Georgia’s significant legal representatives and gained Hollowell the difference of being the dean of Black legal representatives in the State.
During his 52 -year lawful profession, Hollowell’s company dealt with thousands of civil rights and constitutional freedoms situations in the state and government courts of Georgia. Some of his landmark instances were his depiction of Myra Payne Elliott, Barbara Rate Search, and Iris Mae Welch– the three Black females who acted as complainants in the landmark suit Quest v. Arnold and desegregated Georgia State University, which currently graduates more African Americans than any type of institution of greater understanding in the country. Various other cases consisted of Hollowell’s depiction of Charlayne Seeker and Hamilton Holmes in the event that desegregated the University of Georgia– the State’s front runner university. He also served as the personal lawyer to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. throughout his lots of apprehensions due to King’s non-violent straight action led protests. Furthermore, Hollowell led the lawful group that forged a seven-year project to sign up Horace T. Ward in the College of Georgia’s Legislation School. Triumphant, Ward later became the Elderly Court for the Northern Area Court of Georgia. While many of Hollowell’s success were in high profile situations, he never shed his typical touch.
Image thanks to the archives held at the Auburn Method Research Study Library on African American Background and Society, Atlanta, GA
In 1966, Hollowell became the first Black American to head a federal agency in Georgia, tapped by the 36 th US Head Of State Lyndon Baines Johnson to lead the southeastern office of the Equal Employment Possibility Payment. This compensation was established by the Head of state to remove discrimination based on race and gender. Hollowell’s various other civil rights activity included serving as chair of the board and lawful advise for the Citizen Education Project in Georgia from 1971 to 1986, where he assisted sign up Black areas to enact the United States raising the number from 3 million to 5 5 million.
Hollowell passed away on December 27, 2004 Upon his fatality, he held elderly condition in the Atlanta law office of Hollowell, Foster & & Gepp, and P.C. He obtained five honorary postgraduate degrees from colleges throughout the nation. He was called the Attorney of the Year by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund , the Superior Georgia Person Honor from the State of Georgia Secretary of State and got an Honorary Medical professional of Legislations level from the University of Georgia– the exact same institution he fought to desegregate. Furthermore, the Donald L. Hollowell Professorship of Regulation was established by Emory University in 1990 He belonged to Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and Sigma Specialty Phi Society (Boulé)
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