In Memoriam: John Kenneth Lee, 1923-2018

J. Kenneth Lee, a prominent civil rights attorney who was one of five African American students who in 1951 enrolled at the University of North Carolina School of Law, has died at an assisted living facility in Greensboro. He was 94 years old.

Lee was a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, the 13th of 14 children in his family. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro and then taught at that university. In 1949, he joined a lawsuit seeking admission to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law. He and his fellow plaintiffs were represented by Thurgood Marshall. They won their case in the U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. In 1951, Lee and four other Black students entered the law school and were the first African Americans to integrate the state university system.

After graduation from law school, Lee became a civil right attorney and represented more than 1,700 defendants in civil disobedience cases during the civil rights movement. In 1957, he successfully represented five Black girls in a fight to attend the all-white Gillespie Park Elementary in 1957. As a result, Greensboro was one of the first cities in the southeastern part of the United States to desegregate its public schools.

Martin Brinkley, dean of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, said that “Lee is one of the law school’s great citizens of the twentieth century. His strength and commitment to justice paved the way for students not only at the law school but at the university. His tireless work arguing civil rights cases across North Carolina created positive changes that are still felt today and will continue to be felt for years to come.”

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

Higher Education Gifts or Grants of Interest to African Americans

Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.

University at Buffalo Acquires Archival Collection From Historic Black Church

Founded in 1861, St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Buffalo, New York, is one of the country's oldest Black Episcopal congregations. Recently, the University at Buffalo has acquired a collection of materials documenting the church's history and impact on the Black community in Buffalo.

In Memoriam: Clifton Wharton, Jr., 1926-2024

Dr. Wharton was the first Black president of Michigan State University, the first Black chancellor of the State University of New York, and the first Black CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

Huge Surge in American Students Studying Abroad in Sub-Saharan Africa

According to the latest Open Doors report from the Institute on International Education, there were 9,163 Americans studying in sub-Saharan Africa in the 2022-23 academic year, up 98.6 percent from the previous year. Nearly 39 percent of these students attended universities in the Republic of South Africa.

Featured Jobs