Jack Greenberg (December 22, 1924 – October 12, 2016) was an American attorney and legal scholar. He was the Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund from 1961 to 1984, succeeding

Thurgood Marshall Thoroughgood "Thurgood" Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme C ...

. He was involved in numerous crucial cases, including ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...

'', which ended segregation in public schools.Teaching With Documents: Documents Related to ''Brown v. Board of Education''. Biographies of Attorneys and Litigants: ''Brown v. Board of Education''.

National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

. Accessed February 10, 2010 In all, he argued 40

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

cases before the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

, and won almost all of them. He was Alphonse Fletcher Jr. Professor of Law Emeritus at

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. The school was founded in 1858 as the Columbia College Law School. The un ...

,Faculty profile
Columbia Law School (accessed January 3, 2016). and had previously served as dean of Columbia College and vice dean of Columbia Law School.Professor Jack Greenberg '48 and Jeh Johnson '82 Win Wien Prize
Columbia Law School press release,

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, December 2, 2009. Accessed February 10, 2010 He died on October 12, 2016.

Early life

Greenberg was born into a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

on December 22, 1924.Jack Greenberg bio. ''Brown v. Board of Education'' National Historic Site.

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

, U.S. Department of the Interior. Accessed February 10, 2010 His brother was science journalist Daniel S. Greenberg. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Greenberg served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

and fought at

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

and

Iwo Jima is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands, which lie south of the Bonin Islands and together with them make up the Ogasawara Subprefecture, Ogasawara Archipelago. Together with the Izu Islands, they make up Japan's Nanpō Islands. Although sout ...

.Crusader for Justice: Professor Jack Greenberg '48 Honored for Lifetime of Advocacy
Columbia Law School (January 31, 2014) (press release). Greenberg commanded a

landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. ...

in the invasion of Iheya Jima, one of the final campaigns of the war. During his service, he was disturbed by racial prejudice he perceived in the Navy, and was threatened with a court martial for shouting at a superior officer in defense of a black crewman that he felt was being mistreated. After an interruption due to his war service Greenberg graduated from Columbia College with a B.A. in 1945. He further received an LL.B. from

in 1948, and an

LL.D. A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

(an honorary degree) from Columbia Law in 1984.

Career

Civil and human rights lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund

Greenberg became the only white legal counselor for the

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (NAACP LDF, the Legal Defense Fund, or LDF) is an American civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City. LDF is wholly independent and separate from the NAACP. Although LDF ca ...

("LDF") in 1949, and, in 1961, succeeded

as LDF's Director-Counsel. Greenberg recalled his earliest arguments before the Supreme Court, saying:

It was like a religious experience; the first few times I was there I was full of awe. I had an almost tactile feeling. The first time I was in the Court, I wasn't arguing. I felt as if I were in a synagogue, and reached to see whether or not I had a
yarmulke A (plural: ''kippot''), , or is a brimless Jewish skullcap, usually made of cloth, traditionally worn by Jewish men to fulfill the customary requirement that the head be covered. It is the most common type of head-covering worn by men in ...
on. I thought I ought to have one on.

Important civil rights cases argued for the Legal Defense Fund

''Brown v. Board of Education'', 1954

In perhaps his greatest stride, Greenberg argued ''

'' in 1954 before the Supreme Court as co-counsel with Thurgood Marshall. ''Brown'' declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. In ''Brown'', Greenberg found social scientists and other authorities from the fields of psychology and sociology who addressed the detrimental effects forced segregation could have on young public school students.

''Meredith v. Fair'', 1962

In 1962, Greenberg argued ''Meredith v. Fair'', a case which became a first step in integrating the University of Mississippi by allowing the enrollment of student James Meredith. Other civil rights cases Greenberg argued include '' Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education'' in 1969, which ordered the end of segregated school systems "at once", and '' Griggs v. Duke Power Company'' in 1971, which outlawed basing employment and promotion decisions on the results of tests with a discriminatory impact. In 1972, he argued ''

Furman v. Georgia ''Furman v. Georgia'', 408 U.S. 238 (1972), was a landmark criminal case in which the United States Supreme Court decided that arbitrary and inconsistent imposition of the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, and const ...

'' (1972), in which the Court held that the death penalty as it was then applied was a violation of the "

cruel and unusual punishment Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase in common law describing punishment that is considered unacceptable due to the suffering, pain, or humiliation it inflicts on the person subjected to the sanction. The precise definition varies by jurisdi ...

" clause of the Eighth Amendment.

Founding member of other civil and human rights groups

Greenberg was a founding member of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) and of

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

Educator

Greenberg was an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School from 1970 to 1984, a visiting lecturer at

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

in 1971, and a visiting professor at College of the City of New York in 1977. In 1982, he was appointed to co-teach Julius L. Chambers' class on race law at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

. The university declined to replace Greenberg with a black professor, so black students boycotted the class. When asked if he was frightened to pass through a group of protesters on his way to class the first day, Greenberg said, "No, I was on the beach at Iwo Jima." Greenberg left LDF in 1984 to become a professor and Vice Dean at

. He served as Dean of Columbia College from 1989 to 1993. Greenberg's teaching interests include

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

, civil rights, and

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

law,

civil procedure Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and regulations along with some standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or ca ...

, "

Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of real ...

and the Law", and South Africa's post-

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

constitution. As of fall 2013, Greenberg still taught at Columbia Law School, and served as a senior director of LDF. He was also a distinguished visiting professor at

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

Faculty of Law in 1993-94 and at St. Louis University Law School in 1994, and a visiting professor at Lewis and Clark Law School in 1994 and 1996, at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1995, at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

in 1998, at

Tokyo University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

in 1996 and 1998, at the University of Nuremberg-Erlangen in 1999–2000, and at

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...

in 2005.

Author

Greenberg had varied intellectual interests: aside from several books on law and civil rights, including ''Crusaders in the Courts,'' he has written a cookbook (''Dean Cuisine'', with

Dean James Vorenberg), and appeared as a panelist for a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' tasting of

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

pinot noir Pinot noir (), also known as Pinot nero, is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name also refers to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words fo ...

. He also edited '' Franz Kafka: The Office Writings'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008) with two other scholars.

Awards and honors

*In 2001, Greenberg was awarded a

Presidential Citizens Medal The Presidential Citizens Medal is an award bestowed by the president of the United States. It is the second-highest civilian award in the United States and is second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Established by executive order on N ...

. President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

commented "In the courtroom and the classroom, Jack Greenberg has been a crusader for freedom and equality for more than half a century." *In 1998, Greenberg was elected a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

. *In 1996, Greenberg received the Thurgood Marshall Award of the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

for his long-term contributions to the advancement of civil rights, civil liberties, and human rights in the U.S. *Greenberg received an honorary

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

degree from

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

in 2005 and an honorary degree from

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

in 2004.Charter Day 2004 Honorary Degree Recipients.

. Accessed February 10, 2010 *In December 2009, Greenberg received Columbia Law School's Lawrence A. Wien Prize for Social Responsibility. In January 2014, a daylong

symposium In Ancient Greece, the symposium (, ''sympósion'', from συμπίνειν, ''sympínein'', 'to drink together') was the part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was accompanied by music, dancing, recitals, o ...

in his Greenberg's honor was held at Columbia Law School. *In May 2014, Greenberg was honored by President Barack Obama on the 60th Anniversary of the 1954 ''Brown v. Board of Education'' Supreme Court decision that ended segregation in public schools. Greenberg argued the case as co-council with Thurgood Marshall.Felsenthal, Mark, Reuters, "Obamas Mark 60 Years Since Integration Ruling", ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', Fort Lauderdale, Florida, pg. A12, 17 May 2014

Publications (selected list)

*
Race Relations and American Law
' (1959) *
Litigation for Social Change
' (1973) *
Cases and Materials on Judicial Process and Social Change
' (1976) *
Dean Cuisine: The Liberated Man's Guide to Fine Cooking
' (with Vorenberg, 1991) *
Crusaders in the Courts: How a Dedicated Band of Lawyers Fought for the Civil Rights Revolution"> Crusaders in the Courts: How a Dedicated Band of Lawyers Fought for the Civil Rights Revolution
' (1994) *
Crusaders in the Courts; Legal Battles of the Civil Rights Movement
' (2004) *
Brown v. Board of Education; Witness to A Landmark Decision
' (2004)

References

External links

Columbia Law School bioFordham Law bioCivil Rights Digital Library bio2004 Interview
on

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

with

Tavis Smiley Tavis Smiley (; born September 13, 1964) is an American talk show host and author. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Bunker Hill, Indiana. After attending Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University, he worked durin ...

: 'Brown' Lawyer Jack Greenberg
2004 Interview with the U.S. Latino & Latina World War II Oral History Project on the University of Texas Libraries website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenberg, Jack 1924 births 2016 deaths 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American lawyers Activists from New York (state) American civil rights lawyers American legal scholars Columbia College (New York) alumni Columbia Law School alumni Columbia University faculty Military personnel from New York City People associated with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Presidential Citizens Medal recipients United States Navy officers United States Navy personnel of World War II Writers from Brooklyn