• Linnes Finney, Jr. - President
• V. Lynn Whitfield- Lawfax E-Bulletin Editor

• NBA TO HONOR THE LITTLE ROCK NINE
• PRESIDENT FINNEY COMMITTED TO FUNDING ENDOWMENT
• UPCOMING EVENTS
• LOBBYING ON THE HILL
• MEMBER NEWS!!!
• INFORMATION NEEDED!!! S

President Finney has undertaken to complete what was started during the term of then President H.T. Smith, funding the Endowment. Approximately Six Hundred Thousand Dollars short of the goal which was set by President Smith, President Finney has formed a committee to complete the task. The purpose of the Endowment campaign was to raise one million dollars as an endowment to the NBA. The principal is never to be spent. The NBA is restricted from utilizing any of the funds or the interest until the entire endowment is funded. The fund is administered by the National Bar Institute.

Each member and friend of the National Bar Association is needed to help President Finney reach this goal. With your help the NBI and the NBA will continue to provide a means for educating the public concerning contemporary legal issues, ensuring quality legal educational opportunities for all Americans, and enhancing the quality of legal services provided to people of color and the poor.

YOU CAN BE A PART of "Securing Our Legal Future" by making the suggested donation of $1,000.00 today. Also if you made a pledge and have not completed the payments, pay now; if you have already given your $1,000.00, you are encouraged to dig deeper and give a little more. All checks should be made payable to the National Bar Institute. Please note on your checks that this is for Endowment. For more information visit the NBI webpage on the National Bar's website. It is time for us to secure our future and the future of this great organization.

• November 1-5, 2006 - Wiley Branton Symposium, Little Rock, Ar
• January 10-14, 2007 - NBA Judicial Council Mid- Winter Meeting and Board Meeting, St. Kitts
• February, 2007 - NBA Corporate Counsel Conference, Miami, Fl
• March 15-18, 2007 - Small Firms & Solo Practitioners, Puerto Rico
• May 9-13, 2007 - NBA Midyear Conference and Gertrude Rush Dinner, Hollywood, Fl
• June, 2007 - International Trip, South Africa
• July 8-20, 2007 - NBA Crump Law Camp, Washington, D.C.
• July 28-August 4, 2007 - NBA 82nd Annual Convention and Exhibits, Atlanta, GA.

The National Bar is taking it to the hill. On March 6 and 7, 2007, the Legislative Lawyers Division plans to have at least 100 members of the NBA in Washington, D.C. from around the country for Lobby Day. In order to meet this goal they need you. More information will be forthcoming but mark your calendars now. Make sure it is communicated to all members of your region, affiliate, section and division.

The Wiley Branton Symposium will focus on the issue of education. In light of the selected theme, President Finney has chosen to honor the Little Rock Nine as the awardees during the Wiley Branton Symposium. In the Spring, 1957 seventeen black students were selected, out of five hundred and seventeen who lived in the district of Central High School, to integrate the high school. Eight of the ones selected declined. On September 4, 1957 the nine remaining students attempted to enter the high school but were turned away by the same National Guard that had been dispatched to protect the peace. They tried again on September 23, 1957 and were escorted inside the school through a side door but once it was learned by the mob outside that they were in the building, a decision was made to take them out by the side door. Two days later, the nine were back this time escorted by federal troops sent in by President Eisenhower. May 27, 1958, one of them, Ernest Green became the first black student to graduate from the previously all-white Central High School.

As the NBA Board of Governors ventures to Little Rock for the Symposium and Board meeting, we reflect on the history of integration in Little Rock and the State of Arkansas. The University of Arkansas's School of Law was integrated in September 1949, nine years before the high schools. Approximately one year after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education the Little Rock School Board unanimously voted to adopt the Superintindent's plan for gradual integration to start in September 1957 beginning with the high school level. On June 27, 1956, twenty-seven black students attempted to register in all-white Little Rock schools but were turned down. The NAACP filed suit to force integration February 8, 1956.

Thelma Mothershed-Wair; Gloria Ray Karlmark, Minnijean Brown Trickey; Carlotta Walls Lanier; Dr. Terrance Roberts; Jefferson Thomas; Elizabeth Eckford; Ernest Green and Melba Pattillo Beals did not start out to make history, but they did. Only three of the nine graduated from Central High School, but all went on to have distinguished careers. Next year will be the fiftieth anniversary for the Little Rock Nine.

If you have not already arranged to attend the symposium it is not too late. One of the seminars will focus on the decline of black enrollment in our nation's law school and there will be a private tour of the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Center. Contact the national office and we will see you in Little Rock, November 1-3, 2006.

Photograph above includes Daisy Bates a NAACP representative who worked with the Little Rock Nine.