AUBURN, Ala. (EETV) – On Wednesday, Sept. 17, Auburn University celebrated National Constitution Day by hosting civil rights lawyer Fred Gray, who spoke about the importance of the Constitution and its role in keeping civil liberties today.
Gray, a winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, has dedicated his life to furthering civil rights in the field of law.
Mentioning his school background and his road to becoming the man he is today, Gray thanked his mother who taught him that, “You can be anyone you want to be if you just do three things. One, keep Chirst first in your life, two, get a good education, and three stay out of trouble.”
Gray achieved notoriety with Martin Luther King Jr. and E.D. Nixon during the Civil Rights Movement, defending Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks as a young attorney in Alabama.
Born in Montgomery, Ala., Gray attended Alabama State University, going on to receive a juris doctor from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Oh., in 1954. At the time, no law schools in Alabama would accept Black students.
Gray elaborated to the audience that with his life working towards civil rights, it demonstrated the importance of the U.S. Constitution, particularly the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. Those amendments were his inspiration and powered his determination in changing the law.
Emphasizing the collaboration of activists during the civil rights movement, Gray explained that every person had a different role to play in the fight for constitutional rights.
Gray said his job along with other lawyer activists like Thurgood Marshall was to be the legal voice to change the laws, and activist like Martin Luther King Jr. job was to be the spokesperson for the group.
At the end of the speech, Gray challenged the audience: “I challenge each one of you, whether you’re a student or an administrator or just a plain Jane, to go back to your campus and count the generational problems, the racial problems, and all other problems and think this: it's all in your hands. Now what are you going to do?”
Gray successfully led the effort to desegregate Auburn University as well, in addition to over 100 local school systems and every public university in his home state of Alabama.
You can read more about his countless achievements in his autobiography, “Bus Ride to Justice.”
