North Cook News

Civil rights lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill will headline MLK Commemoration

Additional Dream Week events include the candlelight vigil, an oratorical contest and film screenings. The Dream Week 2023 schedule and registration links are available on Northwestern’s MLK website.

A rich career dedicated to civil rights and democracy

A familiar presence in the media, Sherrilyn Ifill has been interviewed on topics of voting rights, civil rights and democracy. She was named one of TIME Magazine’s Women of the Year in 2022 and TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2021.

Ifill began her legal career in 1988 as an assistant counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), where she litigated and won Houston Lawyer’s Association v. Attorney General of Texas, a pivotal case, upheld by the Supreme Court, that ensured Black and Latino Texans were protected against discriminatory voting practices across all elections.

After 20 years teaching law at University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore, she returned to the LDF as president and director-counsel in 2013, a tumultuous period in civil rights that was marked by a national uptick in legal efforts to suppress the vote, including the Supreme Court’s 2013 Shelby v. Holder decision.

Before stepping down from its leadership in spring of 2022, Ifill oversaw legal campaigns to protect voting rights, including a lawsuit against the United States Postal Service over planned mail shutdowns ahead of the 2020 election, and a lawsuit on behalf of peaceful protestors marching to the polls in Alamance County, North Carolina, as well as three lawsuits opposing voter suppression laws in Florida, Georgia and Texas.

A scholar and author, Ifill’s 2007 book “On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century,” is a guide for communities to confront the legacy of lynching through restorative justice and reparations that is widely credited with laying the foundation for contemporary discussion around lynching and reconciliation.

Professional honors include the 2021 Spirit of Excellence Award from the American Bar Association and Attorney of the Year by The American Lawyer. In 2022, Ifill received the prestigious Brandeis Medal, named for Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, and the American Bar Association’s Thurgood Marshall Award.

Ifill’s keynote conversation concludes a week of Dream Week programming on the Chicago and Evanston campuses. Many events are open to the public. For more information and reservation links, visit Northwestern’s MLK website.

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