Prominent death row activist Bryan A Stevenson to deliver Buck Colbert Franklin Memorial Civil Rights Lecture

Released on: March 20, 2008, 8:47 am

Press Release Author: Jimmy Hart

Industry: Law

Press Release Summary: Bryan A. Stevenson, acclaimed public interest lawyer who has
helped reduce or overturn more than 65 death sentences, will deliver the TU College
of Law's Eighth Annual Buck Colbert Franklin Memorial Civil Rights Lecture on April
9.

Press Release Body: The University of Tulsa College of Law welcomes Bryan A.
Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Ala.,
to give the Eighth Annual Buck Colbert Franklin Civil Rights Lecture on April 9.

Stevenson has earned national recognition for his representation of underprivileged
people and death row prisoners in the deep South. Those efforts have successfully
overturned dozens of capital murder cases and death sentences where underprivileged
people have been unconstitutionally convicted or sentenced.

His work has earned several national awards, including the National Public Interest
Lawyer of the Year, the American Bar Association Wisdom Award for Public Service,
the ACLU National Medal of Liberty, the Olof Palme Prize for International Human
Rights and the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Award.

The Buck Colbert Franklin Memorial Civil Rights Lecture honors one of the first
black attorneys in Tulsa and in Oklahoma. In the aftermath of the 1921 Tulsa Race
Riot, Franklin served his community and his profession by assisting victims of the
riot. Working in a tent, as his offices and home were destroyed during the riot, he
represented clients, filed briefs and fought back against the injustice of the riot
and the city's assault on the Tulsa black community. He won a critical court
decision striking down a city ordinance designed to prevent blacks from rebuilding
their homes in Tulsa.

The lecture will be held at Sharp Chapel, 2940 E. 6th Street, on the TU campus at
7:30 p.m. It is free to attend and open to the public.

ABOUT THE TU COLLEGE OF LAW
The TU College of Law provides an academically rigorous, yet congenial atmosphere
with opportunities for scholarship, leadership and faculty mentoring. Students
develop practical skills through participation with student-driven legal journals,
award-winning moot court teams, two on-campus clinics and a new pro bono program.
Joint interdisciplinary degrees include a JD/MBA and JD/MTAX and unique specialties
include energy and environmental law and Native American law. The Mabee Legal
Information Center is recognized as one of the nation's top university law
libraries. The TU College of Law is one of the four colleges of The University of
Tulsa, which is ranked among U.S. News and World Report's Top 100 Universities. To
find out more visit: www.law.utulsa.edu.


Web Site: http://www.law.utulsa.edu

Contact Details: Jimmy Hart

Communications Specialist, TU College of Law

University Relations

Westby Hall #103

800 S. Tucker Drive

Tulsa, OK 74104

Office: 918-631-2568

Fax: 918-631-2035

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