George Williamson Crawford

George Williamson Crawford (October 21, 1877 – August 1, 1972) was a lawyer, public servant and an activist for African-American civil rights in New Haven, Connecticut.

Crawford while a law student in New Haven
Crawford Manor, in New Haven, Connecticut

Biography

Crawford was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and attended Tuskegee Institute and Talladega College, both historically black colleges.[1] In 1903, Crawford graduated from the Yale University Law School.[2] While at Yale, Crawford received the Townsend Prize awarded to the best orator at the law school, a prestigious award.[3] The award, which included a prize of $100, was given for a speech titled, "Trades, Unionism and Patriotism."[4] He was appointed clerk of the Probate Court of New Haven immediately upon graduation in 1903.[5]

From 1907 until the 1950s, Crawford worked in private practice in New Haven.[2] He was particularly recognized for a high-profile case in which he won the acquittals of thirteen defendants (all white), political leaders of Waterbury, Connecticut who had been charged with criminal breach of the public trust.[2] From 1954 to 1962 he served as corporation counsel for the City of New Haven.[1]

Crawford was also active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and was one of the founders of the Greater New Haven branch of the organization.[6] He was also an outspoken freemason; he wrote a book on Prince Hall and black freemasonry.[7] At the end of his life, Crawford was recognized as a pioneering black lawyer and civic leader. Roy Wilkins, then executive director of the NAACP, said at a 1966 ceremony dedicating George Crawford Manor, a high-rise residential building for the elderly in New Haven, "It is difficult for a colored man to rise above differences, mistreatments, and inequalities to reach a place such as George Crawford has. He brought all the qualities that make up the American Dream. He served his community—not colored or white—but the whole community."[8] The George W. Crawford Black Bar Association, an organization of black lawyers in Connecticut, was named in his honor.[1]

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References
  1. "George W. Crawford Black Bar Association".
  2. Smith, J. Clay (1993). Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer 1844-1944. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 126–128, 162.
  3. "Class Day at Yale" (PDF). The New York Times. June 22, 1903. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
  4. "Win Yale Law Prizes: Negro and Chinaman Divide Highest Commencement Honors". The Philadelphia Record. June 23, 1903. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
  5. "School and Alumni Notes". Yale Law Journal. 14: 298. 1904–1905.
  6. "About the Sustainer Program". Greater New Haven NAACP. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
  7. Crawford, George Williamson (1914). Prince Hall and his Followers. New York: The Crisis.
  8. "Wilkins Dedicates Home for Elderly, Hits GOP". Jet. October 13, 1966. p. 10.
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