Louisiana Supreme Court issued the following announcement on Feb. 5.
The Louisiana Supreme Court announced the launch of several Black History Month educational initiatives to spotlight contributions of prominent African Americans to the field of law. The Supreme Court will partner with the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) to bring these initiatives to schools statewide.
On Friday, February 5, 2021, Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice John L. Weimer, Justice Jay B. McCallum, Justice Piper D. Griffin, and Louisiana State Bar Association President Alainna R. Mire will host 20 second-grade students from Homer A. Plessy Community School in New Orleans for a book-reading on Thurgood Marshall, who was the first African American to serve on the United States Supreme Court. The reading of the selected book, “The Highest Tribute: Thurgood Marshall’s Life, Leadership, and Legacy,” will be digitally recorded and shared with elementary schools statewide by BESE and the Louisiana Department of Education. COVID-19 safety protocols will be followed.
Additional educational outreach initiatives scheduled for February will include four issues of the Supreme Court Library newsletter De Novo, featuring several African American legal pioneers, with one article being issued each week. Those highlighted will include noted civil rights attorney A.P. Tureaud, whose litigation helped end Jim Crow laws in New Orleans; Homer Plessy, whose challenge to the Separate Car Act in Louisiana moved to strike down barriers to equality, and later inspired many in the Civil Rights movement to challenge society and improve its laws; Ernest N. “Dutch” Morial, the first African American Mayor of New Orleans, the first African American to graduate from LSU Law School, and the first African American to serve on Louisiana’s Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal; and Bernette Joshua Johnson, the first African American Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana and one of the first two African American females to graduate from LSU Law School.
Additional Black History Month educational materials will include a presentation by the Law Library of Louisiana entitled Pioneers in Diversity, highlighting those trailblazing men and women of color who have served on state courts in Louisiana.
“I believe that judges can make a significant contribution to educating young people about the role of the courts in our system of government,” said Chief Justice Weimer. “During Black History Month, it is beneficial to share the experience of those who sought to make the promise of the Declaration of Independence, that all are created equally, a reality.”
Chief Justice Weimer, in his commitment to promoting civic education, formed a partnership with BESE to increase judicial engagement with Louisiana schools and has encouraged the Louisiana judiciary to have frequent visits to schools statewide. As a result, the Louisiana Center for Law and Civics Education’s “Judges in the Classroom” and Adult Civics Education (ACE) programs, as well as “Don’t Let This Be You,” a program spearheaded by Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Scott Crichton, will continue to be proactive in finding new ways to engage judges in sharing civics education throughout Louisiana schools and in Louisiana communities.
The Supreme Court of Louisiana has long hosted student and general public tours of the Court which often include meeting one of the Justices. In March 2020, due to COVID-19 restrictions barring public traffic to the court, the visits were suspended. This will mark the first visit by a group of students since March 2020. It also marks the first visit since the Court's collaboration with BESE to increase judicial educational opportunities with Louisiana students.
Original source can be found here.