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Comment: The material here about Southern University Law School is, unsurprisingly and appropriately, also in the article Southern University Law School. There's no need to duplicate it here. (However, I only skimread both accounts. If the account in Southern University Law School is unsatisfactory, then improve it -- but within the article Southern University Law School.) Unsurprisingly, this cites old newspaper articles. Are none of these available on the web (via newspapers.com, archive.org, etc)?When a source is available on the web, please don't just supply a "bare URL". Hoary (talk) 00:12, 25 May 2026 (UTC)
Marion Overton White (April 16, 1935-July 5, 2019) was an American attorney and civil rights advocate. He has been described as "one of the legendary lawyers of the Civil Rights Movement in Louisiana."[1]
Personal Life
editWhite was born in 1935 in Plaisance, Louisiana, to farmers Valery White and Rosella Sam White. When he was 32, he married Doris Morein,[2] a resident of Ville Platte, Louisiana, which is located approximately ten miles from Plaisance. Both Ville Platte and Plaisance are rural communities in the Acadiana region of Louisiana.
The couple had to travel to Washington, D.C. for their wedding ceremony because anti-miscegenation laws made it illegal for them to marry in their home state of Louisiana. White and his wife had four children: John Valery White, Lia White-Allen, Ahmed White, and Ismail White.
Education
editWhite received his primary and secondary education at Plaisance School, which was, at that time, a segregated, all-black school. Today, the school, which was built by the Rosenwald Fund, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
White was the first child in his family to go to college. He received a B.A. in political science as well as a J.D. in law from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.[3] He was one of the first students to attend Southern University Law School, which the State had created for black students who could not attend the all-white law school at Louisiana State University.[4] White graduated from law school in 1963,[5] becoming one of the first African Americans to obtain a law degree in Louisiana.[6] White is listed in the Southern University Law School Hall of Fame.[7]
Career
editCivic Engagement
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, White ran for various political offices, including state representative,[8] state senator,[9] and state attorney general.[10]
From 1965 to 1966, White served as state president of the Louisiana chapter of the NAACP.[11][12] During his tenure in this role, he was involved in a boycott targeting discriminatory businesses in Farriday, Louisiana. When a bomb exploded on the property of an NAACP member, Richard Thomas, White called the U.S. Attorney General, Nicholas Katzenbach, asking for federal assistance.[13]
In 1968, White and others formed the Louisiana Voter Education Project, a statewide non-partisan organization aimed at voter registration, citizenship education, and leadership training.[14]
In April 1970, White was appointed to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, a body that reported to the President and Congress.[15] In 1972, White was a delegate to Democratic National Convention.[16] During the 1970s, White also served on the Louisiana Human Relations Council and Louisiana Advisory Committee.[17]
White had a long association with the Southern Mutual Help Association, serving on the organization's Board of Directors and, later, becoming an honorary chair. In 1996, he was recognized for, among other things, his "27 Years of Outstanding and Dedicated Work of Justice in Behalf of Human Rights for Louisiana's Rural Poor."[18]
In 2017, White was recognized by the Louisiana Senate, in Senate Resolution No. 21, submitted by Senator Gerald Boudreaux, for his service to the State of Louisiana and for his induction into the St. Landry Parish Democratic Party Hall of Fame.[19]
Legal Work
White spent his career advancing the cause of civil rights, working on scores of cases that sought to desegregate schools, courthouses, restaurants, swimming pools, and other places of public accommodation.
In 1964, White was involved in the desegregation of Grambling College (now Grambling State University), which was at that time a segregated, all-black institution. He recruited Mary Barnes, a white woman, to act as plaintiff in the lawsuit.[20]
In 1968, White filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana challenging the constitutionality of the state's anti-miscegenation laws. He filed the case on behalf of an interracial couple, John Zippert[21] and Carole Prejean, demanding that they be issued a marriage license.[22] The case was stayed pending the outcome of the federal case, Loving v. Virginia, which challenged the constitutionality of anti-miscegenation laws at the federal level.
Much of White's work on desegregation cases was unpaid but, in 2011, he finally got compensated for a desegregation case against the St. Landry School Board that went on for more than four decades when a federal court ordered the Board to pay White $800,000 for legal fees and costs.[23]
References
edit- ↑ Brian McGowan, Integrating Grambling, Mary Barnes and the Louisiana Civil Rights Movement,11/30/23, https://64parishes.org/integrating-grambling.
- ↑ Washington, District of Columbia, U.S., Marriage Bureau Listings, 1921-1990, Line 5656 of 8970.
- ↑ The Shreveport Times, 10/31/71 p. 60.
- ↑ https://www.sulc.edu/page/about.
- ↑ https://www.lsba.org/documents/publications/BarJournal/Feature3-Stephenson-Journal-Oct-Nov-2021.pdf
- ↑ The Louisiana Weekly, 6/29/63, p. 2 (White one of two Southern University law school graduates admitted to bar).
- ↑ SULC Chancellor's Report, August 2019, p. 8.
- ↑ The Shreveport Times, 11/5/75, p. 37
- ↑ The Shreveport Times, 11/4/67, p. 34.
- ↑ The Shreveport Times, 8/15/71, p. 26-A (White running for state attorney general).
- ↑ Levon A. LeBan, An Early History of the Louisiana State Conference, p. 4, https://www.naacplastate.org/mission-vision
- ↑ https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1033441
- ↑ New Pittsburg Courier, 8/27/66, p. 2.
- ↑ Pineville News, 4/4/68 p.5.
- ↑ Monroe News Leader, 4/26/70, p. 1.
- ↑ The Shreveport Times, 5/21/72, p. 8.
- ↑ The Shreveport Times, 10/31/71 p. 60.
- ↑ Southern Mutual Help Ass'n, Inc., Major Award Timeline, 3/6/96, available at https://southernmutualhelp.org/awards/.
- ↑ https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1033441
- ↑ Brian McGowan, Integrating Grambling, Mary Barnes and the Louisiana Civil Rights Movement, 11/30/23, https://64parishes.org/integrating-grambling.
- ↑ "John Zippert - KeyWiki".
- ↑ Monroe Morning World, 3/8/67, p. 7-A; American Press, 3/8/67, p. 17.
- ↑ Brandon Comeaux, Settlement Approved for Lawyer in St. Landry Deseg Case, KPEL1965.com, 11/22/11.