- Collection:
- New Georgia Encyclopedia
- Title:
- Donald Hollowell (1917-2004)
- Creator:
- Hatfield, Edward A.
- Date of Original:
- 2007-09-12
- Subject:
- Lawyers--Georgia
African American lawyers--Georgia
University of Georgia
United States. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Depressions--1929--Kansas
African American soldiers
Lane College
African American universities and colleges--Tennessee--Jackson
Fort Benning (Ga.)
United States. Army. European Theater of Operations
Loyola University of Chicago. School of Law
Donald L. Hollowell Foundation
Civil rights--United States
African Americans--Civil rights
Race relations
Georgia--Race relations--History--20th century
Georgia--History--20th century
Georgia--Politics and government--20th century
Segregation--Georgia
Segregation in education--Georgia
Segregation in education--Georgia--Athens
Segregation in higher education--Georgia
Segregation in higher education--Georgia--Athens
School integration--Georgia
School integration--Georgia--Athens
Discrimination in education--Law and legislation--Georgia
Race discrimination--Georgia
Racism--Georgia
Discrimination in public accommodations--Georgia
Discrimination in restaurants--Georgia
Civil rights workers--Georgia
African American civil rights workers--Georgia
Civil rights movements--Georgia
African American students--Georgia
African American leadership--Georgia
Sit-ins--Georgia--Atlanta
United States. Army. Cavalry, 10th
Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941
World War, 1939-1945
Albany Movement (Albany, Ga.) - People:
- King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968
Hollowell, Donald L., 1917-2004
Hunter-Gault, Charlayne
Holmes, Hamilton, 1941- - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Chattahoochee County, Fort Benning, 32.35237, -84.96882
United States, Georgia, Clarke County, Athens, 33.96095, -83.37794
United States, Georgia, Dougherty County, Albany, 31.57851, -84.15574
United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798
United States, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago, 41.85003, -87.65005
United States, Kansas, Sedgwick County, 37.68476, -97.46097
United States, Kansas, Sedgwick County, Wichita, 37.69224, -97.33754
United States, Tennessee, Madison County, 35.60814, -88.83847
United States, Tennessee, Madison County, Jackson, 35.61452, -88.81395 - Medium:
- articles
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- text/html
- Description:
- Encyclopedia article about Donald Hollowell, one of a handful of black lawyers practicing civil rights law in the 1950s and 1960s, who was instrumental in the movement to desegregate public institutions throughout Georgia. Hollowell provided counsel to student activists during the Atlanta sit-ins, defended Martin Luther King Jr. and other demonstrators as part of the Albany Movement, and successfully litigated the landmark case integrating the University of Georgia. In 1966 he became the first African American regional director of a major federal agency when U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to oversee the southeastern regional office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Born in 1917 in Wichita, Kansas, Hollowell dropped out of high school to help support his family during the Great Depression.In 1935 he enlisted in the army, where he served in the segregated Tenth Cavalry Regiment, better known as the Buffalo Soldiers and reached the rank of Private First Class Specialist Five by 1938. He then withdrew from regular service to continue his education at Lane College, an all-black school in Jackson, Tennessee, where he excelled in the classroom and on the athletic field as a three-sport athlete. Hollowell was recalled to active service in 1941 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which resulted in the United States entering World War II. Hollowell was stationed at Fort Benning before deployment overseas and then transferred to the European theater, where he again served with distinction, rising to the rank of captain by war's end. After the war, he enrolled in law school at Loyola University in Chicago, Illinois, earning a law degree in 1951. He moved to Atlanta where he established a law practice and soon became active in the civil rights movement in Georgia. In 2000 the Donald L. Hollowell Foundation was established to assist with the educational and social needs of children and seniors in Georgia. Hollowell died in Atlanta on December 27, 2004.
The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the aggregation and enhancement of partner metadata.
GSE identifier: SS8H11 - Metadata URL:
- https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/donald-hollowell-1917-2004/
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- If you wish to use content from the NGE site for commercial use, publication, or any purpose other than fair use as defined by law, you must request and receive written permission from the NGE. Such requests may be directed to: Permissions/NGE, University of Georgia Press, 330 Research Drive, Athens, GA 30602.
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: "[article name]," New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved [date]: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org.
- Original Collection:
- Forms part of the New Georgia Encyclopedia.
- Contributing Institution:
- New Georgia Encyclopedia (Project)
- Rights: