(NEW YORK)—The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law announced the winners of its annual Higginbotham Leadership Awards. This year marks the organization’s 61st year fighting for racial justice since its founding in 1963 at a meeting convened by President John F. Kennedy.
This year’s award recipients have helped advance racial justice in our country.
This 2024 award winners are:
Ruthie Walls, a teacher who courageously sued the State of Arkansas and helped win a temporary injunction so that students can learn the truth about historic and current day discrimination in America. Ms. Walls teaches at Little Rock’s historically important Central High School, and her cousin is Carlotta Walls LaNier, a member of the Little Rock Nine whose house was bombed just before she was the first Black female to graduate Central High. Ms. Walls’ ongoing leadership is needed in the classroom where she teaches AP African American Studies, as well as in court, as the case heads next before federal and state courts in the fall.
Arian Simone, CEO and Founding Partner of the Fearless Fund, leads a venture capital firm that provides capital to underfunded entrepreneurs. She helped bring light to the fact that less than 1% of all venture capital funding goes to Black women. She recently settled a lawsuit against a grant program for Black women entrepreneurs. Despite the setback, the Fearless Fund will continue to help remedy discriminatory financing practices and the vast majority of its funding moving forward was not affected by the settlement.
Hakeem Jeffries, U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader, one of the highest ranking Black elected officials in our nation’s history and the first Black leader of a political party in the House of Representatives. Minority Leader Jeffries has been a tireless and powerful advocate for Black and Brown people since his election to Congress, and he has prioritized civil rights as Minority Leader. In the House, Minority Leader Jeffries has championed voting rights (including the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act), criminal justice reform (including the First Step Act and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act), economic justice, education, fair housing, and reproductive rights (including the Women’s Health Protection Act).
The awards were given to the recipients at a gala last night in New York City.
The event featured guest speaker New York State Attorney General Letitia James whom the Lawyers’ Committee partnered with to secure the landmark settlement of up to $1 million in payment from perpetrators of a robocall scheme to disenfranchise Black and Brown voters. Leon Timbo was a special musical guest. Melissa Murray, frequent guest on broadcast news shows, co-host of the podcast “Strict Scrutiny,”and Grace Stokes Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, emceed the night’s events.
“Racism is so dangerous because it divides us, and it’s so elusive because it’s a shape-shifter, taking on new forms as the years march on. At a time when we are under attack, we should be demanding more—not asking for less. We know how to fight back, but that’s not enough. We must also fight forward to claim the future we deserve,” said Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “Together, we are writing the next chapter in the history of civil rights.”
The Higginbotham Leadership Awards is an annual awards program named in honor of the late A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., a celebrated statesman, civil rights champion, author, professor, historian, and federal appeals court judge. For more information about the awards and the work of the Lawyers’ Committee, please visit thefuturewedeserve.org.
The Lawyers' Committee President and Executive Director Damon Hewitt, right, hosts the Annual Higginbotham Awards Gala at Cipriani on Wall Street. The Lawyers' Committee honored Arian Simone, CEO and founding partner of the Fearless Fund, the first Venture Capital Fund built for women of color by women of color with a focus on investing in pre-seed and seed level support on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024 in New York.
The Lawyers' Committee President and Executive Director Damon Hewitt, center, hosts the Annual Higginbotham Awards Gala at Cipriani on Wall Street. The Lawyers' Committee honored Colton Gilbert, left, and Ruthie Walls, right, educators at the historic Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Gilbert and Walls are plaintiffs in Walls v. Sanders, a successful challenge to the Arkansas LEARNS Act, which would have punished educators for teaching about Critical Race Theory on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024 in New York.
The Lawyers' Committee President and Executive Director Damon Hewitt, right, hosts the Annual Higginbotham Awards Gala at Cipriani on Wall Street. New York State Attorney General Leticia James, center, was a special guest. Melissa Murray, left, served as the event's MC. Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Annual Higginbotham Gala on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024 in New York.
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Annual Higginbotham Gala on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024 in New York.
Arian Simone, CEO and Founding Partner of the Fearless Fund
The Lawyers’ Committee hosted the Annual Higginbotham Awards Gala at Cipriani on Wall Street. At the event, the Lawyers' Committee honored Melissa Murray as part of its new campaign Ojo Asé, recognizing Black women for the role they play in defending the democratic process in the U.S.
Photo Credit: Adam Hunger for AP Images/Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights
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The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to mobilize the nation’s leading lawyers as agents for change in the Civil Rights Movement. Today, the Lawyers’ Committee uses legal advocacy to achieve racial justice, fighting inside and outside the courts to ensure that Black people and other people of color have the voice, opportunity, and power to make the promises of our democracy real. The Lawyers’ Committee implements its mission and objectives by marshaling the pro bono resources of the bar for litigation, public policy, advocacy and other forms of service by lawyers to the cause of civil rights.
