Research Catalog

Title

Haywood Burns papers, 1940-1996.

Author

Burns, Haywood.

Supplementary Content

Finding aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

26.4 linear feet (26 record cartons and a shoe box)

Summary

The majority of the Haywood Burns papers represent Burns's legal work and the various organizations with which he was connected including the National Council of Black Lawyers, Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Community Service Society of New York, Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, National Lawyers Guild, ACLU's National Prison Project, New World Foundation, Twenty-First Century Foundation, and the Vera Institute of Justice.

Subjects

• International Association of Democratic Lawyers
• Vera Institute of Justice
• National Lawyers Guild
• Black power > United States
• African American college administrators
• City University of New York > School of Law at Queens College
• Civil rights > United States
• Black author
• New World Foundation
• Prison riots > New York (State) > Attica
• United States > Social conditions > 1960-1980
• Racism > United States
• African American lawyers
• United States > Race relations
• Association of the Bar of the City of New York
• Civil rights movements > United States
• Criminal justice, Administration of > United States
• American Civil Liberties Union > National Prison Project
• Associations, institutions, etc > United States
• African American educators
• Community Service Society of New York
• Twenty-First Century Foundation (New York, N.Y.)
• National Conference of Black Lawyers
• African American civil rights workers
• Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (U.S.)
• Discrimination in criminal justice administration
• African American college teachers
• Burns, Haywood
• African Americans > Civil rights > History

Source (note)

• Marilyn Burns

Biography (note)

• William Haywood Burns was a civil rights activist, lawyer, educator and dean of the City University of New York Law School at Queens College. He is the author of "The Voices of Negro Protest in America", published in 1963. A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, Burns served as legal counsel to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund Inc., from 1967-1969. He was one of the founding members and became the first director (1970-1973) of the National Council of Black Lawyers (NCBL), an organization that helped to acquit Angela Davis of murder and kidnapping charges and represented other Black political activists, including Black Panther members and Vietnam War resisters. Highly recognized for his work with the Attica prison uprising in 1971, Burns spent much of his career working tirelessly to recruit more people of color into the legal field, and he was committed to educating lawyers about the complexities of representing underserved communities for the public good. Also active in the anti-apartheid for a quarter of a decade, Burns was a member of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. During one of his trips to South Africa, he was killed by a speeding lorry.

Call Number

Sc MG 625

OCLC

911206758

Author

Burns, Haywood.

Title

Haywood Burns papers, 1940-1996.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

sheet

Biography

William Haywood Burns was a civil rights activist, lawyer, educator and dean of the City University of New York Law School at Queens College. He is the author of "The Voices of Negro Protest in America", published in 1963. A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, Burns served as legal counsel to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund Inc., from 1967-1969. He was one of the founding members and became the first director (1970-1973) of the National Council of Black Lawyers (NCBL), an organization that helped to acquit Angela Davis of murder and kidnapping charges and represented other Black political activists, including Black Panther members and Vietnam War resisters. Highly recognized for his work with the Attica prison uprising in 1971, Burns spent much of his career working tirelessly to recruit more people of color into the legal field, and he was committed to educating lawyers about the complexities of representing underserved communities for the public good. Also active in the anti-apartheid for a quarter of a decade, Burns was a member of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. During one of his trips to South Africa, he was killed by a speeding lorry.

Connect to:

Finding aid

Local Subject

Black author.

Research Call Number

Sc MG 625