Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. 26.4 linear feet (26 record cartons and a shoe box)

Summary

1. 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.

Subject

1. African Americans > Civil rights
2. Burns, Haywood
3. Black author
4. African American lawyers
5. African Americans > Civil rights > History
6. Black power > United States
7. Association of the Bar of the City of New York
8. African American college administrators
9. Prison riots > New York (State) > Attica
10. American Civil Liberties Union > National Prison Project
11. United States > Race relations
12. African American civil rights workers
13. African American educators
14. Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (U.S.)
15. Criminal justice, Administration of > United States
16. New World Foundation
17. Vera Institute of Justice
18. International Association of Democratic Lawyers
19. National Conference of Black Lawyers
20. African American college teachers
21. Civil rights movements > United States
22. Discrimination in criminal justice administration
23. National Lawyers Guild
24. Twenty-First Century Foundation (New York, N.Y.)
25. City University of New York > School of Law at Queens College
26. Associations, institutions, etc > United States
27. Community Service Society of New York
28. Civil rights > United States
29. Racism > United States
30. United States > Social conditions > 1960-1980

Call number

1. Sc MG 625

Source (note)

1. Marilyn Burns

Biography (note)

1. 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.

Author

1. Burns, Haywood.

Title

1. Haywood Burns papers, 1940-1996.

Type of content

1. text

Type of medium

1. unmediated

Type of carrier

1. sheet

Biography

1. 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:

1. Finding aid

Local subject

1. Black author.

Research call number

1. Sc MG 625