In memoriam

New Crisis, The, Jul/Aug 2000

Morris Abram, 81, a civil rights advocate and an opponent of affirmative action, died April 16 in Geneva, N.Y. Abram was a former president of Brandeis University.

Fritz W. Alexander 11, 73, New York's first black State Court of Appeals judge to serve a full term and deputy mayor to David Dinkins, New York's first black mayor, died April 22 in New York City.

Amanda Catherine Dothard, 84, an Alabama school teacher and administrator who taught for more than 33 years beginning as a missionary teacher at James Island, S.C., among the Gullah people, died June 4 in Anniston, Ala. Her daughter, Judy Simmons, is an editor and writer with Crisis.

Chester A. Higgins Sr., 83, former writer and editor of black newspapers and magazines, who also was a public affairs assistant to senior-level government officials and editor of Crisis, died May 25 in Washington, D.C.

Maj. Margaret E. Jones, 89, a retired major who served in the only battalion of African-American military women sent overseas during World War II, died April 11 in Washington, D.C.

Jacob Lawrence, 82, a painter who portrayed black heroes such as Toussaint L'Ouverture, Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass in stark images and bold colors, died June 9 in Seattle, Wash. His 60-painting series "Migration" used his artistic style to delve into social issues and received national acclaim.

Helen Martin, 90, a member of the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame and an NAACP Image-Award nominee for her role in the film Hollywood Shuffle, died March 25 in Monterey, Calif.

Alyce M. Williams, 65, branch president of Sedalia, Mo., NAACP and past secretary of the Missouri State Conference, died May 2 in Sedalia.