Justin Hansford, an associate professor of law at Howard University in Washington, D.C., has received the 2019 Right to Fight Award from the Michael O.D. Brown We Love Our Sons & Daughters Foundation. He was honored for his work as a leader in racial and social justice.
Professor Hansford has served as Howard Law faculty member since 2017. He also currently serves as executive director of the Thurgood Marshall Center for Civil Rights at the university. Prior to joining the Howard faculty, he held faculty positions at Saint Louis University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, and the University of Maryland.
During Professor Hansford’s time at Saint Louis University, the Ferguson unrest began. He joined thousands of protestors in Ferguson to demand justice and provided community-based legal advocacy to protesters and Mike Brown’s family. He also served as a policy advisor for proposed post-Ferguson reforms at the state, local, and federal levels. As a board member of the foundation, Hansford has testified before the Ferguson Commission, the Missouri Advisory Committee to the United States Civil Rights Commission, the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
“It is really an honor to receive this award from the Michael Brown Foundation, especially on the heels of the fifth anniversary of Mike Brown’s passing, and the bold activism from the community in Ferguson that followed,” says Hansford. “I am appreciative of the foundation, including Mike Brown’s mother Lezley McSpadden, who continues to work tirelessly toward justice, not just for her own family, but for so many others. I am grateful to be included in this work and I am dedicated to continuing the necessary work to create policies that honor and protect communities of color.”
Professor Hansford is a graduate of Howard University where he majored in English and African American studies. He holds a juris doctorate from Georgetown University.
