Honor long overdue

HONOR LONG OVERDUE: Forty-four years after they were expelled from Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA, for participating in the historic 1960 sit-in demonstrations, attorney John W. Johnson of New York (2nd, l), retired Circuit Court Judge Kenneth Lavon Johnson of Baltimore (3rd, l), and retired administrator Donald T. Moss of Shaker Heights, OH (4th, l) receive the law degrees they were denied during the 2004 Southern University Law Center (SULC) commencement. Joining the honorees are SULC Chancellor Freddie Pitcher Jr. (far, l); commencement speaker Cassandra M. Chandler (2nd, r), FBI assistant director of public affairs and national spokesperson; and SU System President Leon R. Tarver II (far, r). A fourth honoree, John B. Garner of New Orleans, did not attend. In conferring the honorary juris doctorates to the former students, Pitcher lauded them for their "willingness to suffer traumatic and life-threatening experiences in pursuit of justice." The four men were among 16 students expelled from the university when they sat at "Whites only" lunch counters in Baton Rouge to protest Jim Crow laws that mandated racial segregation in public eateries in the South. Their actions led to the first sit-in case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court and helped end segregation at public facilities throughout the nation.

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