Winner of ABA Thurgood Marshall Award got an early start in civil rights work
Eva Jefferson Paterson, co-founder and former president of the Equal Justice Society, will be honored for her longtime career advancing civil rights. (Photo by Edwin Tse via the Atlantic/Equal Justice Society)
A civil rights lawyer who once debated then-Vice President Spiro Agnew is the winner of the ABA Thurgood Marshall Award.
Eva Jefferson Paterson, co-founder and former president of the Equal Justice Society, will be honored for her longtime career advancing civil rights Aug. 3 at the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago, according to a June 12 ABA press release.
The award, presented by the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice, honors long-term contributions to civil rights, social justice and human rights. The award also honors former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. He was the Supreme Court’s first Black justice.
Paterson “epitomizes what it means to be a civil rights and social justice hero,” said Robin Runge, chair of the Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice, in the press release.
Paterson “got her start in civil rights early,” according to the press release. As a teenager, she delivered the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in appearances throughout Illinois.
At Northwestern University, Paterson was the first Black president of student government. During college, she led nonviolent student protests after the Ohio National Guard shot protesters at Kent State University and debated Agnew on live TV.
After graduating from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law, Paterson worked at the Legal Aid Society of Alameda County in California and co-founded a shelter for battered women.
She spent 26 years at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, serving 13 years as executive director. She was president of the Equal Justice Society from 2000 to 2022.
Paterson also co-founded and chaired the California Civil Rights Coalition for 18 years, was vice president of the national board of the American Civil Liberties Union for eight years, and chaired the boards of Equal Rights Advocates and the San Francisco Bar Association.
In the press release, Runge said Paterson has championed civil rights throughout her 40-year career.
“She has dedicated her life to fighting for equal access to education and opportunity, providing free legal services to low-income individuals, litigating civil rights cases and advocating for social justice for decades while leading groundbreaking campaigns against the death penalty, juvenile incarceration and discrimination based on sexual orientation,” Runge said.
