I I
ILWAUKEE - One
autu y. 1957, in the
q ·et town of Little Roc
Aik., . oour Black
teea- decided a decent
educatioD worth a ¥t
Together �y marched up the
to the aD- . public
high school. Bu . their y
tood a po rful goverDor,
the . Guard aad an
��aYill .. mob.
Wben they e forced to
retreat, it Attorney Wiley
A BrantOn who helopecf them
obtain their constitutional
, right to equal educatioo.
Mob .. erupted and
President Ejseabo er nt
�(D) �oopers into Little
Rock to e Ole the students'
entry.
The event, witnessed on
television by the nation, w a
jo triumph for small-town
Ia I' Wiley Branton. Thrust
in 0 the middle of one of the
mo t import t episodes in
civil r� movement, he
demonstrated his commit­
meat to the cause II as his
extra or din ry skills in the
courtroo
zhelmer
upport
roup m� ......
at· DOH
d Par mily
support roup of the
Alzheimer'S Associatio1l wiD
meet at Detroi Osteopathic
Hospital at 2 p.m. OD Wednes­
day, June 21.
Thi support &roup, . ch
. for caregivers, family mem­
bers and mends of persons af­
Ilicted by Alzheimer' <&ease
or related disorder, meets on
the third Wedn day of each
month at 2 p.m. and offers
I educational support
progr .
DOH is at 12523 Third
Ave., High nd Park. CaIU
252-4495 ..
in
m
recogn on
• Ford School seventh­
graders Daniella Bell and
Ro Houe rth ah� been
elected by Michigan State
U iversity's Mathematics
Department to participate in
its Summer Mathematics
Program for M· if· Youth.
Another Ford seventh­
gr der, Kevin Johnson, was
nam d an alternate.
Bam· 1923· Pille BIuft, .
Ark., Braato received.
DaClIeIOIr"1 desree ill DUSlaess
administratioD from Ar-...._
A.M.&:N. College, in Pine
Bluff,· 1950. .
He attended the UnWersity
of Ar La School, in
FayeneWIe, the first alI-white
la school in the South to
admit B and received a
. . doctor desree in 1953.
Por the next 10 years, Bran­
ton practiced law in a pcivate
firm and frequently assisted
e NAACP Legal Defense
Fund with important cases.
He tra�1ed to Mississippi to
defend the first two b loads
of Freedom Riders and, for a
nominal fee, rked with the
Lcpl Dofease PuDd to hand­
le �l desegregation �
in DaDas and New Or
In 1962, Bruton ap-
pointed by Martin Luther
King Jr. and other major civil
rights leaders to head the
Voter Education Project in
Allanta. In a massive
gra roots effort, volunteers
and field secretaries spread
out cross the South to teach
disen&anchgised Slacks bow
to register to vote.
The project led to the
registration of more th n
600,000 Black voters in 11
southern states, and helped
provide the momentum for
1 . Ad.
Brant's ·civil rights ex­
pertise also w tapped by the
government' where he served
I.
special assistant to Attor­
ney General N"lCho Katzen­
bach and his successor, Ram­
sey Clark. Branton also was
appointed executive secretary
of the Council on Equal Op­
portunity, a presidential d­
visory council established by
President Lyndon B. Johnso .
Until his death in Decem­
ber 1988, Branton served on
the boards and committees of
Afrieare, the NAACP Legal.
Defense and Education I
Fund and the Lawye Com­
mittee for Civil Rights Under
the Law.
G
C. J. nt
{3� 3)934-3052
(313)�-vo.;MI