Z. Alexander Looby
Z. Alexander Looby | |
---|---|
Born | April 8, 1899 |
Died | March 24, 1972 (aged 72) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
Education | Howard University Columbia University New York University |
Occupation | Lawyer |
Political party | Republican |
Parent(s) | John Alexander Looby Grace Elizabeth Joseph |
Zephaniah Alexander Looby (April 8, 1899 – March 24, 1972) was a lawyer in Nashville, Tennessee, who was active in the civil rights movement. Born in the British West Indies, he immigrated to the United States at the age of 15; he earned degrees at Howard University, Columbia University Law School and New York University.
He settled in Nashville, Tennessee, where he built a law practice and taught at Fisk University. He is noted for being part of the defense team for 25 black men charged in attempted murder for the Columbia race riot of 1946 and winning acquittals for most, in the aftermath of the first major racial confrontation in the United States after World War II.[1] He participated in numerous other cases, including leading desegregation of schools in Nashville.[2] He served as a Republican member of the Nashville City Council from 1951 to 1971.[3] His house was bombed by segregationists on April 19, 1960.[3]
Early life
Looby was born on April 8, 1899, in Antigua.[4][5] His father was John Alexander Looby and his mother, Grace Elizabeth Joseph.[4] When he was five, his mother died while giving birth to a sibling. His father died when Looby was a teenager. The youth moved to the United States in 1914 as an orphan when he was fifteen years old.[4]
Looby attended Howard University as an undergraduate,[3] and became a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1922. He went on to earn a law degree in 1925 from Columbia University in New York City, and a doctorate in jurisprudence from New York University in 1926.[2]
Career
Looby moved to
Looby was part of the defense team organized by the
As a young state senator in Nashville's fifth ward,
After the change to the charter, in May 1951 Looby was elected to the Nashville City Council, along with another lawyer, Robert Lillard.[4] They were the first African Americans to be elected to the council since 1911.[4] In 1953, the state passed a constitutional amendment to repeal the poll tax. This led to increased numbers of African Americans registering to vote statewide.[citation needed]
After the United States Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional, Looby filed a suit in Nashville on behalf of A.Z. Kelley. His son had been denied admission to a traditionally white school. Looby is credited with beginning the school desegregation movement in Nashville.[3]
Beginning in February 1960, councilman Looby defended the students arrested in the Nashville sit-ins to achieve integration of public places. His law associates Avon Nyanza Williams and Robert E. Lillard also were part of the defense team.[7] As a result of Looby's support of the students, his house was dynamited by segregationists on April 19, 1960.[8] The house was nearly destroyed by the powerful bomb, which also blew out 140 windows at nearby Meharry Medical College, resulting in minor injuries to students. Neither Looby nor his wife, Grafta Mosby Looby, was harmed in the bombing.[8]
Afterward students from Fisk University led 2500 protesters on a silent walk to city hall, where they confronted Mayor Ben West.[9] Diane Nash asked him, "Do you feel it is wrong to discriminate against a person solely on the basis of their race or color?" West said "yes," later explaining, "It was a moral question – one that a man had to answer, not a politician."[9][7] By May of that year, lunch counters in Nashville were desegregated. By October, Looby and his team gained dismissal of the charges against 91 students "for conspiracy to disrupt trade and commerce."[7]
Death and legacy
Looby died on March 24, 1972.[4] He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Nashville.[2]
In 1976, the city government of Nashville named a new library and community center in Looby's honor.[4] In 1978, the James C. Napier Lawyers Association changed its name to the Napier-Looby Bar Association, in honor of Looby and his accomplishments.[10] In 1982, the Nashville Bar Association posthumously awarded Looby membership; it had rejected him on racial grounds when he applied in the 1950s.[4]
References
- ^ a b Gilbert King, Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America, HarperCollins, 2012, pp. 8 and 14
- ^ a b c d Walter, Jeff (March 25, 2003). "Looby played vital role in Nashville's integration". The Tennessean.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wynn, Linda T. "Zephaniah Alexander Looby". The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture. Tennessee Historical Society and the University of Tennessee Press. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
December 25, 2009
- ^ "Profiles in alphabetical Order". library3.tnstate.edu. Retrieved 2017-02-24.
- ^ Connie L. Lester, "Disfranchising laws", Tennessee Encyclopedia of Culture and History, 2011
- ^ a b c "Timeline: The Civil Rights Movement in America", "This Honorable Body:" African American Legislators in 19th Century Tennessee, 2013, Tennessee Department of State
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ "About the Napier-Looby Bar Association". Retrieved 4 November 2013.
Further reading
- Sarvis, Will (2003). "Leaders in the Court and the Community: Z. Alexander Looby, Avon N. Williams, Jr., and the Legal Fight for Civil Rights in Tennessee, 1940-1970". S2CID 144093676.
- Halberstam, David (1999). The Children. Fawcett Books. ISBN 9780449004395.
- "About NLBA". Control Alt Designs. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
- Elliott, Sam. “Z. Alexander Looby: a Lawyer Hero of the Nashville Sit-Ins.” Tennessee bar journal 47.2 (2011): 3.
- Z. Alexander Looby, Including Bombing of His Home and School Desegregation in Tennessee. N.p., 1956.
- Z. Alexander Looby article in Nashville Tennessean magazine, and Nashville urban renewal projects. (1961).
- Z. Alexander Looby, nominations, elections, and travel arrangements. (1953).
- COLUMBIA RACE RIOT, 1946. (2009, October 29). The Tennessee Tribune, 20(44).