Memorial Honors Civil Rights Hero

At a Memorial Church service yesterday, friends, colleagues and relatives gathered to pay tribute to the memory of Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr., professor of jurisprudence at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG).

"The first word that comes to my mind is `great,' and that word also describes the void that must be filled by those Judge Higginbotham sought to lead and inspire by his example," said Roger A. Fairfax '94, one of Higginbotham's former research assistants.

Harvard is taking a step to fill this void, though. Three new programs announced yesterday will help carry on Higginbotham's legacy.

The "Higginbotham Public Service Fellowship" will be part of the KSG's public service fellowship program, which provides full tuition plus a stipend to students who commit to entering a career in public service upon graduation. The new fellowship was announced at a KSG gathering that preceded the memorial service.

The W.E.B. Du Bois Institute will offer an "A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. Internship Program," for College sophomores or juniors to work on summer public service projects with service organizations.

Such service projects "can begin to close the economic gap that divides the black community in two," said DuBois Professor of the Humanities Henry Louis Gates Jr., in a recent publication.

In a speech at the memorial service, Gates announced the creation of the "A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., Lecture" at the Law School, where Higginbotham was a lecturer. The lecture will be part of the Saturday School Program, a lecture series.

Higginbotham, who died on Dec. 14 at the age of 70, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 1995 for his life's work championing civil rights.

"Justice was not too big a word to be the animating life force in Judge A. Leon Higginbotham," said Professor of Law Lani Guinier '71 at the memorial service.

Raised in Trenton, N.J., then a segregated town, Higginbotham pursued a career in law because of his first-hand experience with injustice. The son of a cleaning woman and a laborer, he often told personal stories of his rise through racial injustice in his lectures as lessons of how "voiceless and forgotten people" could overcome obstacles.

Higginbotham became a noted legal scholar, author and historian, serving as a Federal judge before coming to Harvard.

"He was in the system to heal the system," said Kennedy School Dean Joseph S. Nye Jr.

A reception at Pound Hall immediately followed the memorial service. There a somber crowd recalled Higginbotham's legend.

"I admired his directness. He was without artifice; without cleverness," said Institute of Politics Director Alan K. Simpson. "I have pure respect for him; he was a very kind and generous person."

Along with Gates, Guinier and Nye, Harvard President Neil L. Rudenstine, Climenko Professor of Law Charles J. Ogletree and Higginbotham's daughter, Karen Higginbotham, spoke at the memorial service. Lawrence Watson, Ruth Hamilton and the Kummba Singers, a campus choir that sings spiritual music, performed at the service.