Published on February 27, 2017 by Polly Manuel  
Judge Carlton Reeves

“The Civil Rights Movement: 50 Years Later” is the topic of the 23rd annual Thurgood Marshall Symposium, hosted by at Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law.

The March 2 event begins at 11 a.m. in the Great Hall of Memory Leake Robinson Hall on Samford’s campus. The free event is open to the public, and one hour of continuing legal education (CLE) credit is being offered. Registration is not required.

Hon. Carlton W. Reeves, federal judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, will lead the discussion. Reeves has clerked for Hon. Reuben Anderson, the first African-American justice to serve on the Mississippi Supreme Court; worked at the Jackson, Mississippi, office of Phelps Dunbar; served as assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Mississippi; and founded the law firm Piggott Reeves Johnson. He has also served on the board of the ACLU of Mississippi, the Mississippi Center for Justice and the Magnolia Bar Association. President Barack Obama nominated Judge Reeves for the Southern District of Mississippi on April 28, 2010, and the U.S. Senate confirmed his appointment on Dec. 19, 2010.

The Thurgood Marshall Symposium is hosted by the Black Law Students Association at Cumberland School of Law. The purpose of the symposium is to provide students, attorneys and the public critical information about legal issues affecting minorities. The late Thurgood Marshall was the first African-American justice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Polly Manuel is marketing and communication coordinator for Cumberland School of Law.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 5,791 students from 49 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.