Jesse N. Stone, Noted Louisiana Lawyer And Educator, Dies At 76

Jet, June 4, 2001

Jesse N. Stone Jr.,76, a Louisiana lawyer, educator and activist who broke color barriers in state government, died after a long illness in Shreveport.

A former president of Southern Univ. (Baton Rouge, LA), Stone was the first Black on the Louisiana Supreme Court and one of the first Blacks to hold key posts in state government in the 1960s.

Born in Gibsland, LA, he was one of the first Southern University Law School grads in 1950, and for a time was Shreveport's only Black lawyer.

During the Civil Rights Movement, Stone was an NAACP attorney and worked with the Congress of Racial Equality and the SCLC.

His achievements in the state government include his tenure as associate director of the Louisiana Commission on Human Relations, Rights and Responsibilities, and assistant state superintendent of education.

In 1971, he became dean of Southern University Law Center. He later was named associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. He returned to Southern in 1974 and served as president for 11 years.

Stone is survived by his widow, Willa Dean Anderson, and daughter Shonda, a Shreveport attorney.