LDF Scholarships to Arkansas Students Aim at Desegregation, More Black Southern Lawyers

    16 

PressRelease f Sue Uae oe 

JUN 301971 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

LDF SCHOLARSHIPS TO ARKANSAS 

STUDENTS AIM AT DESEGREGATION, 

MORE BLACK SOUTHERN LAWYERS 

NEW YORK, N.Y. --- Twenty-three Arkansas students received 

scholarship assistance from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational 

Fund, Inc. (LDF) last year to attend formerly segregated, state- 

supported colleges and universities, or to study law. 

According to a report compiled by John W. Davis, former 

President of West Virginia State College, and Director of the 

LDF's educational program, more than 300 scholarships -- ranging 

in size from $400 to $2,160, with an average grant of $900 -- 

were awarded to Southern Negro students who were able to demonstrate 

both scholastic ability and a financial need. 

The Arkansas undergraduates under the LDF educational program 

include Kathryn Carrothers (U. of Ark.), Barbara A. Johnson 

(U. of Ark.) and Thomas E. Patterson, Jr. (U. of Ark.) of Little 

Rock, Henrietta Jenkins (U. of Ark.) of Wabash, Gloria D. Shepherd 

(U. of Ark.) of Fayetteville, Lawrence J. Shine, Jr. (U. of Ark.) 

of Sweet Home, Mecedes B. Smith (U. of Ark.) of Hope, Linda Taylor 

(U. of Ark.) and Earl J. Blanks (U. of Ark.) of Pine Bluff, and 

Miliken Tyler, Jr. (U. of Ark.), Robert L. Thomas, Jr. (A&M Col.), 

Tom White (A&M Col.), and Linda S. Gayfield (A&M Col.) of Eudora. 

Law students include Darrell F. Brown (U. of Ark.) of Horatio, 

Walter A. Daniels, Jr. (U. of Ark.) of Clarenden, Ora Fred Harris 

(U. of Ark.) of Camden, Eugene Hunt (U. of Ark.) of Pine Bluff, 

Henry L. Jones, Jr. (U. of Mich.), Joseph C. Nunn, Jr. (U. of Ark.) 

(More) 

NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. | 10 Columbus Circle | New York, N.Y. 10019 | (212) 586-8397 

William T. Coleman, Jr. - President Jack Greenberg - Director-Counsel 



LDF SCHOLARSHIPS PAGE TWO 

and Joseph E. Williams, Jr. (U. of Ark.) of Little Rock, Carol 

D. Willis, II (U. of Ark.) of McGehee, and Jimmy Wilson (U. of 

Ark.) of Lexa. 

Most of these students -- those who have not yet completed 

their educations -- will be eligible next term for similar 

scholarships. In addition, LDF hopes to increase the number of 

scholarships available through its two-pronged educational program: 

the Herbert Lehman Education Fund and the Lawyer Training Program. 

The Herbert Lehman Education Fund was begun in 1964 by LDF 

when its litigation had brought about strict court rulings against 

state-financed, segregated higher education. Through the Lehman 

Fund, LDF provides incentives for black students to enter formerly 

all-white colleges and universities, at the same time providing 

incentives for the institutions -- usually in need of scholarship 

monies -- to accept them. There are currently 122 students under 

this program which has given out 586 scholarships (more than 40 to 

Arkansas students)in its 7 years of operation. 

The Lawyer Training Program, on the other hand, was a spin 

off of the Lehman Fund to correct the critical shortage of black 

lawyers which has hampered LDF's efforts to reach out into many 

rural areas. 

According to LDF, black lawyers now comprise only about one 

per cent of the legal profession. The most hopeful estimates of 

the black lawyer/population ratios show one black lawyer for every 

21,230 black Americans. But in some rural sections of the country -- 

especially the South and Southwest -- it is feared that the 

disparity heightens to one black lawyer for every 37,000 black 

Americans. White Americans have no problems obtaining sympathetic 

legal assistance: the national average indicates one white lawyer 

for every 600 white Americans.