L. Clifford Davis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Attorney
- judge
- civil rights advocate
L. Clifford Davis | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 12, 1924 Wilton, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Died | February 15, 2025 (aged 100) Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupations |
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| Spouse | Ethel Weaver (died 2015) |
| Children | 2 |
L. Clifford Davis (October 12, 1924 – February 15, 2025) was an American attorney whose unsuccessful efforts for admission to the University of Arkansas Law School resulted in the eventual admission of African-American students to the school. He also served over thirty years as an attorney and judge, and assisted Thurgood Marshall in the Brown v. Board of Education case.
L. Clifford Davis was born in Wilton, Arkansas, on October 12, 1924.[1] Since the town's educational opportunities for black students ended in the eighth grade, Clifton attended high school at Dunbar High School in Little Rock, where his parents began renting a home.[1] He graduated from Philander Smith College in 1945, where he studied business.[1] The state paid tuition for Davis to attend a school out of state to avoid having him in a classroom with white students, but when Davis realized the higher cost of living at Howard University in Washington, D.C. far outweighed the cost of tuition, he insisted on applying to U of A. In 1947, after applying to the University of Arkansas Law School for two years, he was granted admission under the circumstance that he would not be allowed to enter a room with white students in it, including classrooms, the library and the restrooms. Davis instead completed his law degree at Howard University in 1949 and then returned to Arkansas.[1]