In The News

Civil rights lawyer who battled segregation passes away

Civil rights lawyer who battled segregation passes away

THE DEATH has taken place of Matthew J. Perry who as a young civil rights lawyer battled segregation in America’s deep south. He was 89.

Mr. Perry’s tireless efforts helped change the lives of countless black people across the southern states of the US.

During the 1950s and 1960s he won hundreds of legal battles which helped sweep away the segregation which had existed in all aspects of everyday life for black citizens.

He also challenged and successfully overturned the convictions of more than 7,000 people who had staged sit-ins as part of the civil rights campaign.

Mr. Perry had also helped win the release of more than a dozen men who had been on death row in his home state of South Carolina.

His standing in the legal profession was recognised in 1979, when President Jimmy Carter appointed Mr. Perry as the first black federal judge in South Carolina.

The Judge’s cases are today studied by students at law schools across the U.S.

 

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