Jack Greenberg

Jack Greenberg
President of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
In office 1961–1984
Preceded by	Thurgood Marshall
Succeeded by	Julius L. Chambers
Personal details
Born	(1924-12-22)December 22, 1924 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	October 12, 2016(2016-10-12) (aged 91) New York City, New York, U.S.
Relatives	Daniel S. Greenberg (brother)
Education	Columbia University (BA, LLB)
Awards	Presidential Citizens Medal

Jack Greenberg (December 22, 1924 – October 12, 2016) was an American attorney and legal scholar. He was the Director-Counsel of the

He was Alphonse Fletcher Jr. Professor of Law Emeritus at Columbia Law School,^[4] and had previously served as dean of Columbia College and vice dean of Columbia Law School.^[5] He died on October 12, 2016.^[6]

Early life

Greenberg was born into a Jewish family in

During World War II, Greenberg served in the United States Navy and fought at Okinawa and Iwo Jima.^[11] Greenberg commanded a landing craft in the invasion of Iheya Jima, one of the final campaigns of the war.^[12] During his service, he was disturbed by racial prejudice he perceived in the Navy, and was threatened with a court martial for shouting at a superior officer in defense of a black crewman that he felt was being mistreated.^[13]

After an interruption due to his war service Greenberg graduated from

Greenberg became the only white legal counselor for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund ("LDF") in 1949, and, in 1961, succeeded Thurgood Marshall as LDF's Director-Counsel.^[15]

Greenberg recalled his earliest arguments before the Supreme Court, saying:

It was like a religious experience; the first few times I was there I was full of awe. I had an almost tactile feeling. The first time I was in the Court, I wasn't arguing. I felt as if I were in a synagogue, and reached to see whether or not I had a

yarmulke on. I thought I ought to have one on.^[16]

In perhaps his greatest stride, Greenberg argued Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 before the Supreme Court as co-counsel with Thurgood Marshall. Brown declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. In Brown, Greenberg found social scientists and other authorities from the fields of psychology and sociology who addressed the detrimental effects forced segregation could have on young public school students.^[15][17]

Meredith v. Fair, 1962

In 1962, Greenberg argued Meredith v. Fair, a case which became a first step in integrating the University of Mississippi by allowing the enrollment of student James Meredith.^[18]

Other civil rights cases Greenberg argued include

In 1972, he argued Furman v. Georgia (1972),^[20][21] in which the Court held that the death penalty as it was then applied was a violation of the "cruel and unusual punishment" clause of the Eighth Amendment.

Founding member of other civil and human rights groups

Greenberg was a founding member of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) and of Human Rights Watch.^[22][23]

Educator

Greenberg was an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School from 1970 to 1984, a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School in 1971, and a visiting professor at College of the City of New York in 1977.

In 1982, he was appointed to co-teach Julius L. Chambers' class on race law at Harvard Law School. The university declined to replace Greenberg with a black professor, so black students boycotted the class.^[24] When asked if he was frightened to pass through a group of protesters on his way to class the first day, Greenberg said, "No, I was on the beach at Iwo Jima."^[25]

Greenberg left LDF in 1984 to become a professor and Vice Dean at

• In 2001, Greenberg was awarded a Presidential Citizens Medal.^[29] President Bill Clinton commented "In the courtroom and the classroom, Jack Greenberg has been a crusader for freedom and equality for more than half a century."^[30]
• In 1998, Greenberg was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.^[31]
• In 1996, Greenberg received the Thurgood Marshall Award of the American Bar Association for his long-term contributions to the advancement of civil rights, civil liberties, and human rights in the U.S.^[32]
• Greenberg received an honorary
  Doctor of Laws degree from University of Notre Dame in 2005^[33] and an honorary degree from Howard University in 2004.^[22]
• In December 2009, Greenberg received Columbia Law School's Lawrence A. Wien Prize for Social Responsibility.[5] In January 2014, a daylong symposium in his Greenberg's honor was held at Columbia Law School.^[11]
• In May 2014, Greenberg was honored by President Barack Obama on the 60th Anniversary of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that ended segregation in public schools. Greenberg argued the case as co-council with Thurgood Marshall.^[34]

Book About

• William Cole, A Jack Greenberg Lexicon (2017)

Publications (selected list)

• Race Relations and American Law (1959)
• Litigation for Social Change (1973)
• Cases and Materials on Judicial Process and Social Change (1976)
• Dean Cuisine: The Liberated Man's Guide to Fine Cooking (with Vorenberg, 1991)
• Crusaders in the Courts: How a Dedicated Band of Lawyers Fought for the Civil Rights Revolution (1994)
• Crusaders in the Courts; Legal Battles of the Civil Rights Movement (2004)
• Brown v. Board of Education; Witness to A Landmark Decision (2004)

See also

• African American–Jewish relations

References