Harvard law professor Lani Guinier to headline Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration

Lani GuinierLani Guinier, a lawyer and Harvard professor and the first black woman to become a tenured professor at Harvard Law School, will headline Case Western Reserve University’s 2013 Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation on Friday, Jan. 25, at 12:30 p.m. The free, public event, at Amasa Stone Chapel, is part of the university’s campuswide celebration, “MLK: Honoring his Legacy in a New Era.”

During the 1980s, Guinier spearheaded the voting-rights project at the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund and served in the Civil Rights Division during President Jimmy Carter’s administration as the special assistant to Assistant Attorney General Drew S. Days.

Guinier’s book, Lift Every Voice, chronicles her experiences in 1993, when President Bill Clinton nominated her as assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice but had her nomination withdrawn without confirmation after political factors interfered. Guinier also has written: Becoming Gentlemen: Women, Law School and Institutional Change; Tyranny of the Majority, Who’s Qualified (coauthored with Susan Sturm); and The Miner’s Canary (with Gerald Torres).

Guinier’s speech will conclude the university’s weeklong celebration honoring King and his contributions to social justice, through workshops, films, panel discussions and speakers.

For more information, visit case.edu/events/mlk/.