Rescheduled Presentation: The Honorable U.W. Clemon

Sunday, November 30 (9:15am, Trinity Commons Student Center)

Join us for a special presentation by Judge U.W. Clemon, Alabama’s first Black federal judge. This presentation was originally scheduled for September 28 as part of our fall speaker series, "Problems of Mass Incarceration & Sentencing in Alabama," and we are grateful to have been able to reschedule it for Sunday, November 30.

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In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed Judge Clemon as Alabama’s first Black federal judge. He served for nearly thirty years, including seven as Chief Judge of the Court.

Born and raised in Jefferson County, Judge Clemon was a student leader at Miles College and worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the 1962–63 Birmingham boycott and demonstrations. He graduated as valedictorian of the Miles College Class of 1965 and earned his law degree from Columbia Law School in 1968.

Before his judicial appointment, Clemon co-founded the firm Adams, Baker & Clemon, which handled much of the civil rights litigation in North Alabama, including cases to desegregate the University of Alabama’s football team and to challenge discriminatory employment practices.

Elected in 1974 as one of the first two Black senators to serve in the Alabama Legislature since Reconstruction, he chaired both the Rules and Judiciary Committees and frequently clashed with Governor George Wallace on racial issues.

Following his retirement from the federal bench, Judge Clemon served as Special Master for a $24.4 million class action settlement and was recognized with numerous awards, including the Alabama Bar’s Judicial Award of Merit (2006), the National Bar Association’s highest honor (2008), the American Bar Association’s John H. Pickering Award (2013), and Columbia Law School’s Paul Robeson Award (2015). Honorary doctorates have been conferred upon him by Miles College, Birmingham-Southern College, and Alabama A&M University, and two streets in Birmingham bear his name.