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18 Geo. Mason U. C.R. L.J. 51 (2007-2008)
Truth Matters: A Call for the American Bar Association to Acknowledge Its Past and Make Reparations to African Descendants

handle is hein.journals/gmcvr18 and id is 57 raw text is: TRUTH MATTERS: A CALL FOR THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION TO ACKNOWLEDGE ITS PAST AND MAKE REPARATIONS TO AFRICAN DESCENDANTS by Adjoa Artis Aiyetoro* Look truth straight in the eye and consider remembering as a moral obligation.1 INTRODUCTION As the leading national bar association in the United States since its founding in 1878, the American Bar Association (ABA) played a critically important role in the exclusion of African descendant attor- neys2 from the legal profession. Membership in the ABA opened and continues to open doors for lawyers climbing the ladder of success in the legal profession. The ABA's exclusionary policies and practices enabled a few lawyers ... to legislate for the entire profession and to speak for the bar on issues of professional and public consequence.' * Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) William H. Bowen School of Law. I appreciate the scholarship grant provided by the UALR Bowen School of Law that supported production of this article. I also appreciate the able and generous assistance of UALR faculty members Terri M. Beiner, Lynn C. Foster, Kenneth S. Gallant, and Lindsey P. Gustafson, and Prof. Mitchell F. Crusto, Loyola University School of Law (New Orle- ans), in reading drafts of this article and providing valuable feedback. I also appreciate the research assistance provided by Rachel Patrick, Staff Director, ABA Council on Racial & Ethnic Justice, Kathryn C. Fitzhugh, UALR Professor of Law Librarianship-Reference/Special Collec- tions Librarian, Rejena Saulsberry and Elliot Milner, UALR law students and Wautella Graham and Kibibi Tyehimba, N'COBRA Chair of Public Information and National Co-Chair, respec- tively. Most importantly, I appreciate the strength and courage of those on whose shoulders I stand. Their spirit voices are sources of encouragement and inspiration. 1 AARON LAZARE, ON APOLOGY 253 (Oxford Univ. Press 2004). 2 The term African descendant attorneys describes what some call Black attorneys and others call African-American attorneys. This term is being used for two primary reasons: (1) it bridges the gap between 1844 and 1868 when the Fourteenth Amendment was passed, making formerly enslaved African descendants and their progeny citizens of the United States; and (2) some African descendants do not embrace the African-American identity because of African enslavement and the exclusionary policies and practices within the colonies and the United States, some of which are discussed in this article. 3 JEROLD S. AUERBACH, UNEQUAL JUSTICE: LAWYERS AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN MODERN AMERICAN (Oxford Univ. Press 1976).

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