Times-Journal Writer

The Black Belt Chapter of the Alabama Lawyer’s Association (ALA) is hosting a conference in honor of the 40th anniversary of the passage

of the Voting Rights Acts.

In-coming District Attorney, Michael Jackson, along with several local attorneys are organizing the event set for November 20-21.

“We think its a significant event,” said Jackson. “As an African American attorneys association, we’d be remiss not to recognize it.”

The conference will center around examining the role that Black attorneys played in the movement.

Noted lawyers like J.L Chestnut and Fred Gray will take part in a roundtable discussions about the role the law played in attaining civil rights during the movement as well as the charge for civil rights attorneys in the new millennium.

The conference will also honor African-American women from the black Belt who are products of the Civil Rights Movement. The honorees will include those women who are closely associated with the Movement, but also from other walks of life.

“We decided to honor women from the Black Belt because there are few, if any organizations that that honor these women and they have made amazing accomplishments,” said Christmas

Green, attorney and chief organizer for the conference.

As an African American women and an attorney, I feel close to this project,” said Green. “I feel a need to see it happen.”

The invited keynote speaker for the banquet is Assistant U. S. Attorney Vicki Davis.

Davis was the first African American district judge from Mobile, AL.

The conference is likely to draw over 100 lawyers from across

Alabama and surrounding states.