J. L. Chestnut
Encyclopedia
J.L. Chestnut was an author, attorney, and a figure in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.
He was the first African-American attorney in Selma, Alabama
, and the author of the autobiographical book, Black in Selma, which chronicles the history of the civil rights struggle in Selma, including Bloody Sunday and the Selma to Montgomery marches
. The New York Times review of Chestnut's autobiography says that As the paradoxical "nigger lawyer," Mr. Chestnut was in a privileged position to see into the souls of white folk.
Chestnut was born in Selma, and attended Howard University Law School.
He returned home as Selma's only black attorney, and represented civil rights demonstrators at trial there when the Selma movement began in the 1960s.
He died, aged 77, of kidney failure, after an illness lasting several months in a hospital in Alabama
He was the first African-American attorney in Selma, Alabama
Selma, Alabama
Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama, United States, located on the banks of the Alabama River. The population was 20,512 at the 2000 census....
, and the author of the autobiographical book, Black in Selma, which chronicles the history of the civil rights struggle in Selma, including Bloody Sunday and the Selma to Montgomery marches
Selma to Montgomery marches
The Selma to Montgomery marches were three marches in 1965 that marked the political and emotional peak of the American civil rights movement. They grew out of the voting rights movement in Selma, Alabama, launched by local African-Americans who formed the Dallas County Voters League...
. The New York Times review of Chestnut's autobiography says that As the paradoxical "nigger lawyer," Mr. Chestnut was in a privileged position to see into the souls of white folk.
Chestnut was born in Selma, and attended Howard University Law School.
He returned home as Selma's only black attorney, and represented civil rights demonstrators at trial there when the Selma movement began in the 1960s.
He died, aged 77, of kidney failure, after an illness lasting several months in a hospital in Alabama
External links
- "The Legacy of Rosa Parks", article by Chestnut in Counterpunch, October 26, 2005