Doctor of Laws

May 20, 2018

Morris Dees is a civil rights attorney and co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a public interest law firm specializing in civil rights cases. Formed “to combat hate, intolerance, and discrimination through education and litigation,” the SPLC is known for innovative tactics such as holding hate groups legally accountable for the damages caused by the violence they incite. The SPLC plays a prominent role as a hate-group watchdog through its Intelligence Project, and as an educational force through its influential Teaching Tolerance curriculum materials.

As a student, Dees witnessed the verbal and physical harassment of his classmate Autherine Lucy, the first African American to attend the University of Alabama. Later, the autobiography of civil libertarian attorney Clarence Darrow inspired Dees to sell his successful direct-mail business and focus his law practice on civil rights. In 1971, with attorney Joseph J. Levin Jr. and civil rights activist Julian Bond, he founded the SPLC, based in Montgomery, Ala.

Among other notable accomplishments, Dees achieved the court-ordered integration of the all-white Montgomery YMCA and, subsequently, the integration of the Alabama State Troopers. His efforts forced the redistricting of the Alabama legislature, enabling black voters to participate in the political process. After the 1981 Ku Klux Klan lynching of Michael Donald, Dees won a civil judgment on behalf of the victim’s family that bankrupted the United Klans of America. Although race has been his primary focus, Dees has also worked on other human rights issues, challenging the death penalty, improving conditions in state prisons and mental health facilities, and addressing the plight of recent immigrants mistreated by employers.

Dees has authored three books and received numerous awards, including the ABA Medal (the American Bar Association’s highest honor), the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize, the National Education Association President’s Award for Human and Civil Rights, the Champion of Justice Award from the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights, and the National Civil Rights Museum’s Freedom Award. Dees holds a B.A. from the University of Alabama School of Commerce and Business and an LL.B. from the University of Alabama School of Law.