Outlook | September 2021 | FSU College of Law Black Alumni Network

OutlooK OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE FSU COLLEGE OF LAW BLACK ALUMNI NETWORK Vol. 1 . Issue No. 1 • September 2021-December 2021

Jasmyne Henderson (’15) BAN GENERAL COUNSEL Founding Member

Kareem J. Spratling (’06) Founding Member

Salesia Smith-Gordon (’92) BAN PRESIDENT Founding Member

FSU College of Law Black Alumni Network Executive Officers (2021-2022)

President: Salesia Smith-Gordon ('92) President-Elect: Conti Smith ('07) Secretary: Alicia Dixon ('10) Treasurer & Fund Development Officer: Kenneth D. Pratt ('99) General Counsel: Jasmyne Henderson ('15)

President’s Message Salesia Smith-Gordon, Esq., ('92) Welcome alumni and Fall 2021 law students to the Black Alumni Network’s inaugural newsletter! The Black Alumni Network (BAN) was formed to make a connection between fellow Black law alumni of all classes and generations. The organization exists to share, showcase and support BLSA members and of the College of Law’s agenda on cultural diversity, Racial Justice Consortium. It is my hope that the information shared will begin to remove barriers caused by marginalization and turn them into opportunities for professional and personal achievements.

Since the first Black law school alumni, Zebedee Wright (ret. Circuit Judge) graduated in 1971, there have been 648 FSU Black law graduates. These distinguished alumni operate in a myriad of practice areas throughout the United States and Canada who bring a wealth of knowledge through both life and work experiences.

The bustling energy of a new season, professional positions, and academic year can be magnificently intense, even without Covid-19 safety precautions to navigate. But the same determination and persistence we alumni displayed during our college years is felt and seen among current FSU Law students. We must help propel growth and positive change amount Black lawyers.

Remember your law school years? Think how much smoother the road to graduation, passing the bar exam, employment, and more importantly, self-confidence would have been…“if I had only known…XYZ” or, “If I only had the opportunity to ABC.” As we find ways to network, we can bridge gaps between academia and life experience to enrich the quality of knowledge for BLSA members. Such experiences can change the trajectory of a student’s professional outlook while providing your business an opportunity to receive insight from a fresh eye perspective.

To that end, share your announcements, within and outside the practice of law, as your talents, hobbies, and service to others, which enrich your lives, is extremely important to well-being and life balance.

For those who understand the historical impact of the law school, we will note the name B.K. Roberts has been removed from the main law school building. BAN’s General Counsel, ‘9__ Jasmyne Henderson provides a summary of the legislative challenges and successes in the name removal. ’84 Alumnus Danni Voght shares his 30-year fight towards this historical moment.

‘95 Communications Chair Marlon White will spotlight alumni and FSUCOL friends through conversation on BAN-TV! As Black History is made every day, read ’92 Judicial Chair Judge Stephen Stokes’ article giving Tribute to Black Judiciary. ’81 Jeraldine Williams-Smith shares an Ode to Judge Mickle as a ‘Noles give nod to an extraordinary University of Florida leader.

The courage, persistence, and resilience of our ancestors have shown us what is meant by it takes a village. BAN’s sense of community starts now.

Choose where you can lend a little of your time and treasure. Reach out to any other alumni you know and encourage them to join in for Good Trouble, to pave the way so that we become change agents and stakeholders within the College of Law.

Salesia Smith-Gordon, Esq.

THE HONORABLE STEPHAN MICKLE'S INFLUENCE TRANSCENDED CAMPUS BOUNDARIES (1944-2021)

Honorable Stephan Mickle's Influence Transcended Campus Boundaries (1944-2021) By:The Attorney Jeraldine Williams Smith ('81) Authored by Attorney Jeraldine Williams Smith ('81) for the Black Alumni Network Newsletter

It is not often that a Seminole will give tribute to a Gator, but the Honorable Stephan Mickle is most deserving. His influence on race, education, and the judicial bench transcend the universities as his impact is profound. He was among the first seven Blacks admitted to the University of Florida in 1962 and second to graduate from UF Law School in 1970. In 1963, I was among the second group of seven to be admitted to UF and I integrated the College of Journalism and Communications. He lived in Gainesville and though African American, he bled the Gator orange and blue, through and through.

Judge Mickle, as most would reference him, was my mentor, friend, and contemporary, I called him Stephan.

Integration was more than challenging, it was scary. A bond of friendship remained throughout the years. I was genuinely pleased that he, with the first group of Black undergraduates, had tested the waters of integration on the 2,000-acre campus during the year before I arrived.

You see, Black students shook the foundation of civility as we dared to integrate all-white undergraduate classes and dormitories throughout the Southeast. White supremacy and exclusivity would be extinguished. Or would it?

In 1949, Virgil Hawkins, a Black man, was scholastically qualified and applied to attend the University of Florida College of Law, but was denied entry based on his race. A 9-year court battle ensued in which then Florida Supreme Court Justice BK Roberts authored the court's 1957 majority opinion to deny law school admission to Hawkins based on race under the “separate but equal” premise as FAMU Law was being established for Blacks.

FSU College of Law, formed in 1966, was named after BK Roberts. These were daunting times and Blacks were not welcomed.

In 1962, two people were killed during riots to stop integration at the University of Mississippi. That same year, the Alabama governor stood in the schoolhouse door to disallow integration, in Georgia, federal agents were called in to remove a Black female student before defiant rioters reached her at the dormitory, and in Florida, the governor was an avowed segregationist.

Entering UF at age 17, I tried to hold my composure; however, I was terrified. There were 14 Blacks and about 14,000 white undergraduate students. There were no Black professors, test proctors, clerical workers, coaches, athletes, or counselors. I had never been around so many white people. Frightening.

The fact that Stephan and the six other Black students had survived at UF, most of the time unaccosted, gave me a sense of security and self-confidence that, though a Black female, I could make it, too.

Stephan and I were part of a collective introduction to ourselves, the university, the state, and the world of a transformative concept of black or white. The first 14 of us Black Gators helped change those two- and three-letter conjunctions for life in terms of race relations.

A decade later, when I enrolled at the Florida State College of Law in 1978 (one of eleven Black students), I carried with me a sense of confidence, possibility, survival, and success.

During his lifetime, Stephan Mickle developed far-reaching tentacles to so many as an integrationist, educator, lawyer, and jurist. Stephan accomplished a lot between the dash of his life and death. He deserves all the honor for paving the way for at least two garnet & gold law 'Noles – me and my daughter Salesia Smith-Gordon.

Attorney Jeraldine Williams Smith ('81)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeraldine Williams (Smith) FSUCOL ’81, the FSU COL BAN member is also a Hearst Award Winner & Hall of Fame Journalist Inductee at UF and is the mother of BAN President Salesia Smith-Gordon.

TRIBUTE TO BLACK JUDICIARY & UNITED STATES IMPACT

By: Honorable Stephen Stokes ('91) The Honorable Stephan Mickle's Influence Transcended Campus Boundaries (1944-2021) Authored by Attorney Jeraldine Williams Smith ('81) for the Black Alumni Network Newsletter

The late, great Attorney and Judge, Charles Hamilton Houston famously said, “A lawyer is either a social engineer or a parasite on society!” Judge Houston was a graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Law School. Before ascending to the bench, he had worked as a civil rights attorney in his father’s law firm, and in 1929, he became vice-dean of the Howard University Law School. As a strategic legal architect, Houston played a behind-the-scenes role in nearly every civil rights case before the United States Supreme Court between 1930 and the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954.

He was known as the man who killed Jim Crow because his brilliant strategy attacked and defeated Jim Crow segregation by highlighting the inequality of the “separate but equal” doctrine from the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision, as it pertained to public education.

Judge Houston was a mentor to many civil rights attorneys, many of whom became notable jurists themselves, not the least of whom was the man who, in 1967, would become the first African American Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court – Thurgood Marshall, who had been the lead lawyer in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case.

Justice Marshall remained on the Supreme Court until his retirement in October 1991.

Other, perhaps less known, but no less significant African American judges coming up behind Justice Marshall included A. Leon Higginbotham, who was an influential judge, legal scholar, and professor. He was a leader in the fight for civil rights and authored important studies on the sociology of race. He graduated from Yale University Law school in 1954, and was deeply involved in the civil rights struggle in Philadelphia, and became head of the NAACP. President Kennedy named him to the Federal Trade Commission, making him the first African American to sit on the powerful board.

In 1963, President Jimmy Carter elevated him to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, becoming its Chief Judge in 1989. He served as an advisor to local, state, and nationally elected leaders, including several presidents. Upon retirement from the federal bench in 1993, he held a distinguished professorship at Harvard. He was a steadfast opponent of racism and discrimination and authored hundreds of legal opinions. Active to the very end of his life, he died at age 70 in 1998.

Since the United States Supreme Court was established on March 4, 1789, there have been only two African American Supreme Court Associate Justices – Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas, who replaced Justice Marshall upon his retirement. There have been no African American women on the high bench to date. And there easily could have been, and should have been, when one considers the likes of Judge Constance Baker Motley, who was born on September 14, 1921, in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1944, she became the first black woman to be accepted into Columbia Law School. It was here where she met Thurgood Marshall, chief counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Her career with the NAACP brought her many high-profile cases often involving school desegregation. She played a major role in the legal preparation for the Brown v. Board of Education case and was the first black woman to argue a case before the United States Supreme Court. She was also the lead counsel in the case to allow James Meredith to gain admission to the University of Mississippi in 1962. Besides fighting for the rights of blacks to get into segregated schools, she also defended protestors arrested during the Freedom Rides sit-ins of the early 1960s. She won nine out of ten cases argued before the Supreme Court between 1961 and 1963. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed her to the United States District Court in 1966 (a year before Justice Marshall was appointed to the SCOTUS), making her the first African American woman to hold a Federal Judgeship.

Judge Constance Baker Motley died of congestive heart failure on September 28, 2005 at the age of 84. Over the course of her long career in law and politics she had received over 70 awards and 8 honorary degrees from universities. It is quite clear that she was more than qualified to serve on the Supreme Court.

The Honorable Stephan Mickle's Influence Transcended Campus Boundaries (1944-2021) Authored by Attorney Jeraldine Williams Smith ('81) for the Black Alumni Network Newsletter

Notwithstanding the remarkable pathway to the bench cleared by these outstanding trailblazers, not nearly enough African American lawyers have had an equal chance to serve on the Federal District Courts and Courts of Appeals, and certainly not on the country’s highest court. There is still much work to do; and during Black History Month 2021, this is a perfect time both to celebrate the successes of the past, and to recommit to honor and replicate our rich history of excellence in service and scholarship.

I practiced law for over 25 years, and besides being a prosecutor and an Army JAG officer, I represented people too poor to hire a lawyer for their defense. And these have included criminal defendants facing serious charges and prison time; people facing the loss of a much-needed job; and students facing long-term suspension and removal to alternative schools – what I have sometimes referred to as “alternatives to school.” And as a judge, I strive never to lose sight of the important role judges play in fostering confidence in the minds of our citizenry in the rule of law – in equality and justice for all.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. must have believed the words of Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” And with that faith – just two weeks before his death – Dr. King said he had the “temerity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals for their body, education for their mind, and dignity for their spirit. And that we must be in the vanguard to see that all three take place in America!”

And no less than did Dr. King, Poet Langston Hughes also dreamed of freedom, and he struck a cautiously optimistic tone in his poem, “Dream of Freedom:”

Honorable Stephen Stokes ('91)

There’s a dream in the land With its back against the wall.

By muddled names and strange Sometimes the dream is called.

There are those who claim This dream for theirs alone — A sin for which, we know They must atone.

Unless shared in common Like sunlight and like air, The dream will die for lack Of substance anywhere.

The dream knows no frontier or tongue, The dream, no class or race.

The dream cannot be kept secure In any one locked place.

This dream today embattled, With its back against the wall — To save the dream for one, It must be saved for all.

As Judge Higginbotham observed long ago, “we have been able to make the success we have because of a tradition of great people giving nothing short of their best to assure a system of economic and social justice for everyone.”

And so, I say to you – Florida State University College of Law, Black Alumni Network – we must knock on the courthouse doors until all of our voices are heard!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Hon. Stephen C. Stokes, ’91. The FSU COL BAN member serves in multiple leadership roles including BAN’s Judicial Chair and District Ct Judge, Cumberland Co. Fayetteville, NC.

REWRITING OUR HISTORY

JASMYNE’S GENERAL COUNSEL CORNER Jasmyne Henderson Esq., '15

B.K. ROBERTS HALL UPDATE

Renaming B.K. Roberts Hall

The FSU College of Law Black Alumni Network (BAN) is working alongside the FSU Office of Governmental Relations and the FSU Student Government Association to repeal the law that named B.K. Roberts Hall in honor of former Florida Supreme Court Justice B.K. Roberts. The bill, while still in the early stages of the legislative process, was unanimously approved by the Leon County Delegation. The legislation is now eligible to be heard in House Committees.

While the conservative-leaning Florida Legislature generally opposes renaming buildings and removing statues, this legislation has a stronger chance of passing because of a provision granting FSU authority to name the building. Specifically, the legislation implements the recommendation of the Florida State University President’s Advisory Panel on University Namings and Recognitions to seek legislative action to legally remove the designated facility name. In 2017, FSU President John Thrasher created the panel to explore potential actions and recommendations related to Francis Eppes Hall, Francis Eppes Statute, and the B.K. Roberts Hall.

Additionally, the bill language may put some conservatives at ease because it clarifies that the repeal does not constitute a legislative position regarding the ultimate disposition of the original designation.

Rather, the Legislature recognizes the university’s transparent, collaborative, and thorough review process, which resulted in the recommendation that precipitated this repeal, and further intends that the university is solely responsible for naming the building.

Renaming B.K. Roberts Hall is a priority of the newly formed BAN due to Justice Roberts’ role in denying Virgil Hawkins admission to the University of Florida Levin College of Law and his role in upholding segregationist policies. Further, his name is a daily reminder to FSU Law students of the state’s role in denying the right of African Americans to equitable educational opportunities. Virgil Hawkins applied to UF in 1949 and was refused admission based on race. Hawkins brought his case to the Florida Supreme Court in 1950 and while the court recognized that Hawkins had a right to attend a public law school in Florida, the court felt the state had done enough to uphold this right by creating a public law school for blacks at Florida A&M University.

Hawkins took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court and bounced back and forth between the two courts until finally, on March 12, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Hawkins to admit to UF. However, via the opinion of Justice Roberts, who invoked the doctrine of states’ rights and asserted that public mischief would occur if blacks were permitted to attend white schools, Hawkins was again denied admission.

Hawkins ultimately went before the Florida Supreme Court three times before the court ordered the desegregation of UF’s graduate and professional schools. In 1958, George Starke was the first African American to be admitted to UF College of Law.

DANNI VOGT’S FOUR-DECADE FIGHT TO REMOVE B.K. ROBERT’S NAME

By: Danni Vogt ('84)

For those who have been waiting for years for the B.K. Roberts name to be removed from the FSU College of Law, this fall should bring a pleasant surprise—the lettering on the outside of the building is finally gone. The building officially remains “B.K. Roberts Hall” as designated by the 1973 legislature. However, FSU officials say the wording of that law was scrutinized, and, finding nothing requiring a big sign on the building, the lettering was removed in mid-August.

"FSU BLSA (Black Law Student Association) is grateful to the College of Law for removing the B.K. Roberts lettering from the Main Law Building,” according to a statement released by the current BLSA Executive Board issued by Lauren Rolfe, 2021-22 BLSA president.“This is a significant first step to permanently erasing the racist legacy of B.K. Roberts from the confines of the law school, and creating a space where Black and Brown students are safe, welcome, and prioritized. FSU BLSA will continue to be actively involved in the efforts to permanently change the name of the Main Law Building and we are grateful to the lawyers, alumni, and local activists who have paved the way for our members' voices to be heard.”

FSU remains committed to pursuing legislation to permanently remove Roberts’ name from the building and giving FSU the option to rename it, according to Dean Erin O’Hara O’Connor. Bills filed the past three years were unsuccessful but plans to try again in 2022 are already in motion. Since the Florida Legislature put the name on the building, only the legislature has the power to remove it.

Should the B.K. Roberts name be removed, FSU plans to recognize Roberts by a display inside the building that would contextualize the 1950s Florida Supreme Court opinions written by then Chief Justice Roberts that prevented Virgil Hawkins from enrolling at the University of Florida because he was black--in defiance of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision outlawing separate but equal education systems as well as a subsequent U.S. Supreme Court decision that more specifically instructed Florida to admit Hawkins without delay.

The display would include information about Roberts’ role in founding the FSU law school in the 1960s, as well as his contributions to the Florida legal world which include establishing a public defender system and the present structure of the court system with county, circuit, DCA and supreme court levels.

Personally, I am pleased that the lettering has been removed from the building. It is a positive step but not enough, so I plan to keep fighting. I have been working on this issue since 1982 when as a 2L student at FSU I noticed our library contained books stamped “Florida A&M College of Law” and after further research discovered the whole Virgil Hawkins story and the role B.K. Roberts played in keeping blacks out of Florida universities. One of the highlights of my life was meeting Hawkins and inviting him to speak at FSU in 1983, where his fire and brimstone speech to a packed law school lounge changed a lot of lives.

I have made the campaign to rename the building my number one priority since my retirement in 2018. A website “Rename B.K. Roberts Hall Now!” was created to explain the history of the issue as well as publicize the progress of the campaign.

So, let’s keep pushing and one day soon we see victory.

WATCH THE PREVIEW VIDEO BAN Communications Chair and BANTv Host, Marlon Hill ('95) discusses the launch of the new network.

BAN TO LAUNCH TV NETWORK WITH LAW SCHOOL ALUM MARLON HILL ('95) AS HOST Since our law school’s founding, the journey of the FSU Black law student and the Black lawyer alumni has been filled with a range of stories of accomplishments, challenges, triumphs, losses, progress, among chapters. In an effort to share our journey with our law school community and community partners, we will embark on the establishment of a series of video interviews and mini-chats on social media to reveal the extraordinary stories and lessons for BAN alumni across the nation and the world through our FSU College of Law Black Alumni NetworkTV. We would like to solicit your assistance in providing story or interview ideas for consideration. This includes yourself. Don’t be shy to promote your FSU Law excellence. This could be a case victory, a new appointment, a new job opportunity, or simply a summary of your journey.

STAY TUNED…You could be on BAN-TV!

GREETINGS FROM BLSA PRESIDENT Laurel Rolfe, 3L

BLSA is excited for another incredible academic year. After a difficult year of social distancing, we are eager to support 1Ls and our members in person while adhering to CDC guidelines. This is a unique year for BLSA, as we have the support from BAN and FSU Law’s SBA which is under the guidance of BLSA member Landus Anderson. Our Board is committed to fighting for the equitable treatment of Black students and pushing for each and every demand we have given to the FSU College of Law Administration.

One of our key demands is the need for more full-time Black law professors at the College of Law. We are in the process of working with the necessary College of Law administrators to ensure that this demand is met and that these professors are able to teach courses that explore anti-racism, Critical Race Theory, and how America’s history of racism impacts the legal field. It is a painful statistic that only 5% of our colleagues will look like us, but we are working to increase this number. We ask BAN to support our demands, and our efforts to diversify the College of Law. BLSA planned fewer events for the month of September due to Covid. On September 12th we held hosted our Back to School Cookout at the FSU Rez Lakefront Park. We took the opportunity to welcome students back to campus, provide a meal catered by 4Rivers Smokehouse, and bonded over various games and activities. In accordance with FSU’s mask policy and for our health and safety we wore masks and provided hand sanitizer.

On September 18th at 11 am, we held a BLSA Brunch at a local restaurant. This was another opportunity for students to bond in a non-law school setting.

On September 20th, we launched our month-long community service initiative, BLSA Boo Baskets. We will be collecting the following items: jackets, blankets, scarves, gloves, socks, toothbrushes, toothpaste, bottles of water, granola bars, fruit snacks, and menstrual products.

If you’re interested in donating any of the aforementioned items, please contact our Community Service Chair, Nyah Tennell at nct19a@my.fsu.edu.

Lastly, we are excited that our exceptional Mock Trial team has found a new exceptional coach from BAN member C. Erica White, ’01. The Mock Trial team has a history of success under the leadership of our Black alumni.

We thank BAN for its endless support for BLSA. We would not be able to provide the academic, social, emotional, and professional support we do to our members without guidance and assistance from BAN.

MEMBERSHIP & ENGAGEMENT

MEMBERSHIP ENGAGEMENT Whether your area of law practice is judicial, political, or other business practice settings, there are opportunities for engagement to help further our mission. Please select how you can best contribute using this brief survey.

TAKE THE SURVEY

FUNDING INITIATIVES

Kenneth Pratt ('99), Treasurer BAN is specifically designated under the FSU Foundation. When you donate, please do so through BAN specifying in the memo section where you desire your funds applied or make a contribution online today.

DONATE TODAY

KENNETH PRATT ('99) BAN TREASURER

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Carlos Moore Swearing-In Ceremony National Bar Association

Charter Member Carlos Moore becomes National Bar

Association President!

BAN is proud that one of our own Carlos Moore has been named President of the National Bar Association. President Moore follows in the path of BAN member Ben Crump ’95 who served as NBA President in 2015.

BAN Members Spotlighted on Cover of Annual Magazine: A Tradition of Excellence JD Advisors Needed

Dean Debra Henley of the College of Law asks Black Law Alumni to serve as JD advisors to BLSA members. Please see the attached letter and complete the survey. If any additional questions, contact Salesia Smith-Gordon, Esq. at Salesia@SmithGordonLaw.com The Career Services Office plans to meet with every student to understand their interests in terms of where they want to live and work after graduation, and what they may be interested in doing with their law degree. This initial meeting will help us determine which BAN member would be the most appropriate to refer them to for advising.

BAN members willing to assist students would let the Career Service Office know what cities or regions they can advise on and which practice areas.

TAKE THE SURVEY

READ NOW

ANNOUNCEMENTS (CONTINUED)

Two Black Faculty Members Join Law School

As part of BAN’s initiative to have greater diversity in the staff and faculty of the law school, we are pleased with the addition of two members to the FSU College of Law faculty family: Daynica Harley ’21 and BLSA Past-President (2020) and Karusha Y. Sharpe ’01, Legal Writing Professor.

Karusha Sharpe ’01, FAMU undergrad. Karusha spent the last 15 years at Greenberg Traurig in Tallahassee and before that was a litigation associate at Foley & Lardner for 5 years (Asst. Dean Glenda Thornton, who was on Foley’s hiring committee at the time, hired Karusha straight out of law school through OCI in 2001). Karusha will be teaching Legal Writing & Research this year and taking on a larger administrative leadership role in the Spring. The mother of four girls, Karusha, and her husband Keith, also run a food pantry in Gadsden County.

Daynica Harley ’21, Past-President BLSA. Daynica is now an instructor within the Public Interest Law Center. She works with Professor Annino to teach the Children's Advocacy Clinic (CAC) and Human Trafficking and Exploitation Law Project (HELP). Daynica supervises student advocacy and manages cases between both clinics which provide full legal representation for, particularly vulnerable children. These populations of children include 1) infants 0-5 years old, 2) child survivors of sex and labor trafficking, and 3) children with disabilities and/or chronic health issues.

KARUSHA SHARPE ’01 Legal Writing Professor

UPCOMING EVENTS October 21 at 12 pm: BAN General Meeting and Technology Seminar October 28 at 6 pm: BLSA-BAN: Practice Areas Decision and Options for Success BAN-TV Airs this Fall

RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES Virgil Hawkins (FL) Chapter of the NBA National Bar Association (NBA) Florida Bar Association

DAYNICA HARLEY ’21 Instructor

THANK YOU TO OUR ALUMNI CONTRIBUTORS FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF BAN INITIATIVES

If we have missed including your name from 2020 through today, please contact Salesia Smith-Gordon, Esq. or Kenneth Pratt, Esq. to ensure your name and contribution were attributed to the Black Law Alumni Network. These funds, attached to the FSU Foundation, can ONLY be used for student (BLSA), faculty, or staff initiatives within our mission NOT for administration or operations.

Sia Baker-Barnes Natasha Bostick Alicia Dixon Carlos Moore Conti Moore-Smith Kenneth Pratt

Salesia Smith-Gordon Kareem Spratling Jeraldine Williams Adam Wood

MEET THE FOUNDERS BAN FOUNDERS - ATTORNEYS: JASMYNE HENDERSON, ’15, KAREEM SPRATLING, ’06, AND SALESIA SMITH-GORDON, ‘92 With the championing of Dean Erin O’Hara O’Conner who had heard separately from all three alumni. The three (3) Black alumni met virtually throughout 2020 bringing unique perspectives and devised the concept of the “The FSU College of Law Black Alumni Network”. February 2021, the Board of Directors were virtually inaugurated by Judge Emerson Thompson, ‘73. The Honorable Zebedee Wright as the 1st Black to graduate from the law school and The Honorable Catherine Brunson’75 was recognized as the 1st Black woman to graduate. We are grateful for the bridges to span the tides that allowed us allow us to cross over chasms deep and wide during the evening tide. We say…Thank you and we will pay it forward.

HISTORY OF BAN The FSU College of Law Black Alumni Network (BAN) was created, in partnership with the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs, to address the impact of systemic racism on the matriculation of Black law students, the marginalization of Black lawyers, and the historic underrepresentation of Black people in the practice of law. Jasmyne Henderson ('15), a Black Alumni Network co-founder, recognized the individual efforts of a growing group of law school alumni to address these issues and urged the law school to form the Black Alumni Network. Henderson, along with co-founders Salesia Smith-Gordon ('92) and Kareem J. Spratling ('06), agreed that the network should be formed to help Black alumni coalesce resources, connect networks and share ideas. To this end, the co-founders and charter members formalized BAN in December 2020 around the ideals of achievement, equity, and equality with the goals of establishing an organization that can continue to address the unique challenges of our professional pipeline, bring valued support to the College of Law’s students and faculty, and support Black Alumni Network members in their efforts to bring change to their communities.

Call for Submissions: Interested in submitting something for the upcoming newsletter? Email us at fsucol.ban@gmail.com

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