An older man dressed in a graduate cap and gown speaks from behind a podium at a graduation ceremony.

Faculty to Serve as Fred Gray Institute Fellows

At its inaugural symposium in March, the Fred D. Gray Institute for Human and Civil Rights appointed Associate Dean Jeff Baker and Professor Bryan Fair to its second cohort of Gray Institute Fellows. The Fellows are named to two-year terms during which they provide leadership, foster external relationships to benefit the Institute, and work on projects focused on the Institute's initiatives: medical ethics, voting rights, gerrymandering, human and civil rights law, and ensuring equal access to quality education.

Dean Baker served on the organizing committee and was a panelist at the symposium, while Professor Fair delivered a speech entitled Courage Under Fire: The Life and Legacy of Mr. Fred Gray. Of Professor Fair's speech, Symposium Director Dr. David Fleer said, “[Bryan] Fair presented a tour de force summary of Attorney Gray's legal oeuvre and impact, then set forth constructive means toward a hopeful future.”

Fred D. Gray is one of the nation's foremost civil rights attorneys, having represented Mrs. Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Congressman John Lewis, and hundreds more in the Civil Rights Movement—Dr. King once called Gray “the movement's lawyer.” He also successfully represented Vivian Malone and James Hood in their efforts to enroll at The University of Alabama in 1963, playing an indispensable role in the legal desegregation of public education in Alabama and throughout the United States. In 2022, The University of Alabama presented Gray with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree at the Law School commencement ceremony in recognition of his impactful career.

The Institute was founded to remember and study the legacy of Gray's work and the Civil Rights Movement, to assess its progress and struggle in the present, and to advocate for justice and equality into the future.

Four people–three men and one woman–sit on a stage. The man on the far right is speaking into a microphone. The background is red with a repeated logo that reads "The Fred D. Gray Institute for Human and Civil Rights."

Associate Dean Jeff Baker (far right) was a co-organizer and panelist at the Fred D. Gray Institute for Human & Civil Rights inaugural symposium in March. 

Associate Dean Jeff Baker (far right) was a co-organizer and panelist at the Fred D. Gray Institute for Human & Civil Rights inaugural symposium in March. 

Two black men dressed in graduate caps and gowns smile at the camera before a graduation ceremony.

Fred D. Gray and Professor Bryan Fair behind-the-scenes at the 2022 Law School Commencement Ceremony.

Fred D. Gray and Professor Bryan Fair behind-the-scenes at the 2022 Law School Commencement Ceremony.

An older man dressed in a gray suit with a red tie sits on a bench looking at a statue of himself.

Lawyers Render Service

In April, the Alabama State Bar unveiled a life-size bronze statue of Fred D. Gray to commemorate his storied career as a civil rights attorney. 

The statue sits just outside the Bar's building in the Fred D. Gray Courtyard—a space announced through a series of resolutions passed by the Board of Bar Commissioners in 2021. The Fred D. Gray Courtyard Committee, chaired by Assistant Dean Cassandra Adams, worked closely with the Gray family throughout the process.

The statue features Mr. Gray seated on an Alabama-sourced limestone bench holding a legal folio engraved with the words “Lawyers Render Service”—a phrase Mr. Gray coined during his term as the first African American president of the Alabama State Bar in 2002 that has since become the Bar's official motto.