Captain William Robert Ming Jr. | |
|---|---|
 William Robert Ming Jr. | |
| Birth name | William Robert Ming Jr. |
| Born | (1911-05-07)May 7, 1911 Chicago Illinois, US |
| Died | June 30, 1973(1973-06-30) (aged 62) Chicago Illinois, US |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Branch | United States ArmyUnited States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps |
| Years of service | 1941–1945ing |
| Rank | Captain |
| Unit | 332nd Fighter Group |
| Awards | |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago |
| Spouse | |
| Other work | Civil rights attorney and law professor |
William Robert Ming Jr. (May 7, 1911 – June 30, 1973) was an Americanlawyer, attorney with theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and law professor atUniversity of Chicago Law School andHoward University School of Law. He presided over theFreeman Field mutiny courts-martial involving theTuskegee Airmen. He is best remembered for being a member of theBrown v. Board of Education litigation team and for working on a number of the important cases leading toBrown, the decision in which theUnited States Supreme Court ruledde jureracial segregation a violation of theEqual Protection Clause of theFourteenth Amendment of theUnited States Constitution.[1]
Ming was born on May 7, 1911, to Annie and William Ming Sr., aSouth Side Chicago municipal employee. Later, he worked as a grocery clerk and on wrecking crews while putting himself through theUniversity of Chicago,[2] and was initiated into the university's Iota chapter ofKappa Alpha Psi fraternity in 1930.
Ming earned aPh.B. degree in 1931 and hisJ.D. degree in 1933 fromUniversity of Chicago Law School, graduatedOrder of the Coif, became one of the first African American members of a law review, and was published in theUniversity of Chicago Law Review's inaugural issue.[1][3]
Ming was admitted to the bar in 1933 and subsequently practiced law in both public and private capacities.
Ming volunteered and served in the Army'sJudge Advocates General Corp,[4] rising to the rank of captain.[2] Prior to serving, in 1941, Ming played a role in the NAACP's unsuccessful opposition to the formation of asegregatedU.S. Army Air Corps fighter group for African Americans, a group that would come to be known as the Tuskegee Airmen, supporting an early lawsuit by an African American whose application for pilot training had been denied.[5]
He was one of ten officers to preside over theFreeman Field mutiny courts-martial. They were appointed by GeneralFrank O'Driscoll Hunter. ColonelBenjamin O. Davis Jr., CaptainGeorge L. Knox II, CaptainJames T. Wiley, captain John H. Duren, Captain Charles R. Stanton, captain William T. Yates, Captain Elmore M. Kennedy]], CaptainFitzroy Newsum, 1st Lieutenant William Robert Ming Jr., 1st Lieutenant James Y. Carter. Trial Judge Advocates were: Captain James W. Redden and 1st LieutenantCharles B. Hall.[6]
Ming was one of the architects of the legal strategy leading to theSupreme Court's landmark decision inBrown v. Board of Education, working on the litigation team for that case and on a number of the important cases leading toBrown, includingShelley v. Kraemer (declaring unconstitutional state enforcement of restrictiveracial covenants in housing) andSweatt v. Painter andMcLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents (declaring unconstitutionalseparate but equal facilities for black professionals and graduate students in state universities).[1][7]
Other important decisions Ming played a role in include:NAACP v. Alabama (holding state's demand for NAACP membership lists unconstitutional),Sipuel v. Board of Regents (striking the exclusion of qualified black students from all-white state law schools),Ward v. Texas (holding the use of coerced confessions in murder prosecutions unconstitutional),[8]Missouri ex rel Gaines v. Canada (holding that states that provide a school to white students must provide in-state education to blacks as well), andVirginia State Bar v. S.W. Tucker (Virginia State Bar's attempt todisbarSamuel Wilbert Tuckernon-suited/dismissed).[3][9][10][11]
InMontgomery, Alabama in May 1960, in front of anall-white jury, Ming helped defendMartin Luther King Jr. on perjury charges related to allegedtax evasion,[12][13] obtaining anacquittal.[14] A "reluctantly admiring" Alabama lawyer was quoted: "Negro or not, he is a master of the law."[2] King wrote of the trial as a "turning point" in his life and praised Ming and his other principal lawyer,Hubert Thomas Delany: "They brought to the courtroom wisdom, courage, and a highly developed art of advocacy; but most important, they brought the lawyers' indomitable determination to win. After a trial of three days, by the sheer strength of their legal arsenal, they overcame the most vicious Southern taboos festering in a virulent and inflamed atmosphere and they persuaded an all-white jury to accept the word of a Negro over that of white men."[15]
King's wife,Coretta Scott King, would later say of the trial: "A southern jury of twelve white men had acquitted Martin. It was a triumph of justice, a miracle that restored your faith in human good."[14]
In addition to his litigation work, Ming served in leadership and other capacities such asACLU counsel, National Veterans Organization President,Illinois Commerce Commission attorney, as a member of the ChicagoNAACP Branch and the Illinois state Conference of the NAACP and as a member of the NAACP National Board of Directors.[3]
Ming was a professor at bothHoward University School of Law andUniversity of Chicago Law School, teaching at the latter from 1947 to 1953, where he became the first African American full-time faculty member at a predominantly white law school.[1][3]Pauli Murray, a student at Howard under Ming, remembered him as discouraging female students as a young professor, commenting on the first day of class, "I don't know why women come to law school anyway".[16]
In 1970, Ming was prosecuted for tax evasion and, despite having paid the back taxes and fines, was sentenced to 16 months in prison. In January 1973, he began to serve his sentence. A number of friends and colleagues urged authorities to grant him parole and release from prison.[17] After a stroke, Ming was paroled and sent to Veteran's Research Hospital in Chicago.[4]
Ming died in a hospital in Chicago on June 30, 1973.[4][7]
In his eulogy, colleague Robert L. Tucker noted Ming's "finer and most productive years were spent in the trenches and upon the blood-stained battlefields" of theCivil Rights Movement.[2]
In April 1974, the NAACP National Board of Directors created the William Robert Ming Advocacy Award to be awarded annually to a lawyer "who exemplifies the spirit of financial and personal sacrifice that Mr. Ming displayed in his legal work for the NAACP."[18][3][19]
As the first day of the perjury trial of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., ended Wednesday, followers of the integration leader saw little chance that the all-white jury would acquit.
Ming, one of six Negro lawyers defending King, drew several major concessions from the [tax] agent.
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