Counsel for the Situation: Shaping the Law to Realize America's Promise

Chronology of the Life of William T. Coleman Jr.

381 chronology of the life of william t. coleman jr. 1915 William T. Coleman Sr. and Laura Beatrice Mason married, June 29, Baltimore, Maryland. 1920 William T. Coleman Jr. born, 12:15 a.m., July 7, North Philadelphia. 1938 Graduated Germantown High School, January 29. 1941 Graduated University of Pennsylvania summa cum laude, June. 1941 Entered Harvard Law School, September. 1942 Invited to join the Harvard Law Review. 1943 Volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Corps, reported for basic training March 4, Biloxi, Mississippi. Attended Harvard Business School. Commissioned as second lieutenant and assigned to the 477th Composite Fighter-Bomber Group, Godman Field, Kentucky, as a statistical control officer. 1945 Married Lovida Hardin, February 10, New Orleans. Defended Tuskegee Airmen in court martial proceedings after they entered a whites-only officers’ club at Freeman Field, Indiana. Honorably discharged from the Army Air Corps. Worked for the law firm of Raymond Pace and Sadie Alexander in Philadelphia, among the top law firms of color in the nation. Reentered Harvard Law School in the fall, where he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. 1946 Graduated Harvard Law School, first in the class of 1946/1943. Employed as Langdell Teaching Fellow at the Law School. Passed Pennsylvania Bar exam. 1947 William T. Coleman III born on April 20. Began clerkship for Judge Herbert F. Goodrich on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in May, the first American of color to clerk for a federal appellate judge. 08-0488-1 appendixes.indd 381 9/9/10 8:29 PM 382 / Chronology 1948 Began clerkship for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter on September 1, the first American of color to clerk for a Supreme Court justice, co-clerking with Elliot Lee Richardson. 1949 Daughter Lovida Jr. born, May 21. Pounded the pavement in Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, and on Wall Street in an unsuccessful search for a law firm job. Completed Supreme Court clerkship, August 31. Finally was offered, and accepted, an associate position at the New York firm of Paul, Weiss, Wharton, and Garrison, to which he commuted from Philadelphia by train for two years, the first American of color to join a major law firm. 1950 Joined the civil rights litigation team led by Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) on a voluntary basis while continuing to practice law. 1952 Third child, Hardin, born on January 30th. Accepted a position as an associate at the Philadelphia law firm of Dilworth, Paxson, Kalish, and Green, the first attorney of color to join a major Philadelphia firm. 1953 Sat next to Thurgood Marshall at the counsel table during reargument of Brown v. Board of Education after having worked on the brief and argument preparation with the LDF team. 1954 State-sanctioned school segregation declared illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, May 17. Worked with the LDF Team on briefing the Supreme Court on the appropriate remedy. 1956 Elected a partner of the Dilworth law firm. Represented the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority , Triangle Publications, Levitt and Sons, and American Homes in litigation, labor, corporate, and real estate matters. 1957 Undertook representation of students of color seeking to enter Girard College in Philadelphia, which was open only to white male orphans under the trust of Stephen Girard. After fourteen years and fifteen court opinions, Girard College finally open to persons of color and, eventually, to women. 1958 Sat at counsel table with Thurgood Marshall during Marshall’s argument in Cooper v. Aaron, the Little Rock school desegregation case, in August; in September, Supreme Court unanimously ordered that the students of color be admitted to Central High School and issued an opinion personally signed by all nine justices—the only unanimous decision personally signed by the entire Court. 08-0488-1 appendixes.indd 382 9/9/10 8:29 PM Chronology / 383 1958 Represented Frank Sinatra at the Dilworth firm. Thurgood Marshall asked Coleman to chair the LDF board of directors . Coleman accepted and served for many years as chair, president, or co-chair before and after his appointment to the president’s cabinet. 1959 Appointed by President Eisenhower to the Committee on Employment Policy ( the Branch Rickey Committee). Appointed by Chief Justice Earl Warren to the Civil Rules Advisory Committee under the chair of Dean Acheson. 1963 Appointed a senior counsel...