Hon. Judith S. Kaye Delivers Hugh Jones Memorial Lecture Albany Law School and The Fund for Modern Courts hosted the 10th Anniversary Judge Hugh R. Jones Memorial Lecture on Oct. 17, 2012, where The Honorable Judith S. Kaye, chief judge of New York from 1993 until 2008, delivered, "Mining Treasures: A Decade of Hugh R. Jones Memorial Lectures." Pictured, from left: Milton L. Williams Jr., Chair of the Fund for Modern Courts; Judge Jonathan Lippman, Chief Judge of the State of New York; Penelope (Penny) Andrews, President & Dean of Albany Law School; and Judge Kaye.
Inaugural Matthews Lecture Recognizes 1870 African-American Graduate
Gibson, author of Young Thurgood: the Making of a Supreme Court Justice, speaking to students and faculty.
Only two years after graduating Albany Law School, James Campbell Matthews argued successfully against the city of Albany’s School Board, forcing the city to desegregate its public schools. Later in his career, as the state’s most prominent African-American, he led the effort to pass a bill to protect the rights of black teachers, which the N.Y. Governor, Grover Cleveland, signed into law. Two years later, Cleveland, who rose from governor to U.S. president, nominated Matthews to succeed Frederick Douglass as Recorder of Deeds in Washington, D.C. The nomination was blocked by the Senate. New York State’s first black judge, Judge Matthews is the first alumnus identified with certainty as African-American, and this year the school introduced the Inaugural James Campbell Matthews Lecture. Larry Gibson, University of Maryland School of Law, spoke this spring about his recent book, Young Thurgood: The Making of a Supreme Court Justice. Matthews graduated in 1870 at the age of 24, before the first Asian, American Indian, andEuropean immigrants who soon populated the school. Judge Randolph Treece ’76, U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of New York, spoke about both Matthews and Thurgood Marshall before introducing the speaker.
Spring 2013
MAGAZINE
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