Willis, A. W., 1925-1988
- Biography:
- "Civil rights lawyer and Memphis businessman A. W. Willis Jr. was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on March 16, 1925. Willis received his B.A. from Talladega College in 1950 and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1953. He set a precedent (the first of many) by opening the first integrated law firm in Memphis in the mid-1950s. In 1961, when James Meredith applied for admission to the University of Mississippi, Willis was the attorney of record. He also served as a NAACP lawyer in the early 1960s during the battle to desegregate the Memphis city schools. In 1964 Willis became the first African American elected to the Tennessee General Assembly since the 1880s. Although he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Memphis in 1967, Willis was instrumental in the election of Harold Ford Sr. to the U.S. Congress in 1974."--"Archie Walter 'A. W.' Willis Jr., 1925-1988," Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture.
- Associated Subjects:
- Willis, A. W., 1925-1988
- Archival Collections And Reference Resources:
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