Civil Rights Heroes Commemorated

Students, professors, and community members paid tribute to civil rights leader and Harvard Law School alum Charles Hamilton Houston at a stamp commemoration event and panel discussion Saturday afternoon.

Hosted by the Cambridge Post Office, the occasion marked the release of the Civil Rights Pioneers stamp sheet—a series designed to commemorate the achievements of 12 prominent civil rights figures including Houston, who led the legal battle against racially discriminatory laws in the mid-20th century.

“Stamps can start conversations, help share dreams, memories—and challenge us to reflect and remember those who have sacrificed so much to help make this nation live up to its promise,” said Katherine Lydon, the postmaster of the Cambridge Post Office.

Issued by the United States Postal Service, the new stamp series pays homage to such civil rights giants as Oswald Garrison Villard, one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and assassinated NAACP official Medgar W. Evers in addition to Houston.

Though a more general release celebration occurred in New York City, Saturday’s Cambridge event, held in the Zero Arrow Theatre, focused specifically on Law School graduate Houston.

Born in 1895, Houston served as the NAACP Litigation Director, pioneering a novel legal strategy for confronting the institionalized racism of the United States’ Jim Crow Laws. As dean of Howard University Law School, Houston trained a generation of young black lawyers, including future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

In 2005, HLS established the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice to honor the great civil rights leaders of the 20th century.

The Institute’s founder, Law School professor Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., and Houston’s son, Charles Hamilton Houston, Jr., were both in attendance at Saturday’s event.

“The Institute embodies my father’s ideals by continuing his fight for social justice,” Houston said.

—Staff writer Courtney P. Yadoo can be reached at cyadoo@fas.harvard.edu.