Sarasota Community Says Thanks to Archon Fred David Gray
Trevor Harvey - National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Sarasota Branch; Judge Charles Williams - Diversity Committee, National Bar Association, Manasota Branch; Fred Gray - Guest Speaker; William Brown - Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Pi Beta Beta Chapter; Carol Buchanan - Chairperson; Herman Bell - Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Gamma Xi Boulé; Corene Richardson - The Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Manasota Branch (ASALH)
Those of us who are old enough remember that brash, young, black attorney who stepped forward to defend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks in Montgomery, AL in 1955. Fresh out of law school, Attorney Fred David Gray embarked on a total commitment to expunge segregation in Alabama. Archon Gray, seemingly oblivious to risk of life and livelihood, put himself in harm’s way using the constitution to successfully defend Archon King and Mrs. Parks. What followed was a swathe of victories throughout the South.
Archon Gray’s legendary court victories fittingly brought him national recognition: seats on numerous boards; a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers; numerous Honorary Degrees; President of the National Bar Association; first person of color elected as President of the Alabama State Bar Association and the list goes on and on.
After reading Archon Gray’s “Bus Ride to Freedom”, Archon Dr. Samuel Carroll Buchanan, an African American History Buff, spearheaded a move to plan a luncheon February 5 at the Hyatt Hotel with Archon Gray as the keynote speaker. Sadly, we lost Archon Buchanan to the Omega Boulé. However, Archousa Carol Buchanan moved forward with the plan garnering support from the local NAACP, the National Bar Association, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Phi Beta Beta Chapter, Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity Gamma Xi Boulé, and the Association for the Study of African Life and History Manasota Branch. These groups banded together and presented Archon Gray a $10,000 check for the Tuskegee Human and Civil Rights Multicultural Center. He was a moving force to establish this center as a memorial to the participants in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. It was a way of saying “Thank You” to Archon Gray for his iconic, legal defense in the civil rights movement.
Submitted by Grapter Alphonse Carter
Photo Credit: Courtesy FlaVour Magazine