February is Black History Month, which exists to honor the extraordinary, historic events and achievements of African Americans and those of African descent.
In celebration of this year’s gala SMU is hosting several events, one of which is a lecture given by SMU’s own Darwin Payne, professor emeritus of communications. The lecture, “Quest for Justice,” will be Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Texarkana Room of DeGolyer Library. A book signing and reception will immediately follow the lecture.
Ruth Ann Elmore, coordinator at SMU’s Clements Center for Southwest Studies and one of the lecture sponsors, said the lecture is designed to highlight “Professor Payne’s writing of the book and its importance, and to raise awareness about the book and Elmore Bedford’s contributions to civil rights.”
“We collaborate with other groups on campus, SMU Press, Degolyer Library and Colophon/Friends of the SMU Libraries, in sponsoring various events,” Elmore said.
Payne’s book, “Quest for Justice: Louis A. Bedford and the Struggle for Equal Rights in Texas,” chronicles the life of Elmore Bedford, a prominent civil rights activist and attorney in Dallas and its first African-American judge.
Payne was commissioned by the Dallas Bar Association to write a memoir detailing Bedford’s life and career, in observance of Black History Month,. Bedford, 83, sat down with Payne and gave the author a first-hand account.
Payne, a lover of biographical and autobiographical books, was eager to oblige the Dallas Bar Association’s request to write the book and give the lecture. Payne said that Bedford still has a law office on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the southern sector of Dallas, which is where the two men met continually over a two-year period for the research of the book.
Louis A. Bedford was born in Dallas when Jim Crow laws were the order of the day.
“Both his parents were college educated, and his grandfather was a prominent republican,” Payne said.
Bedford graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas before attending Prairie View A&M, where he received his bachelor’s degree in history. At that time Texas did not allow African-Americans to attend its law schools, so he headed north where there were greater opportunities for African-Americans. He received his law degree from Brooklyn College Law School.
He returned to Dallas three years later and opened his law office. He still puts in time at his office, after nearing 60 years of business.
Payne said Bedford was very forthcoming and helpful during his research. He recounted at length his protests, marches, sit-ins and picketing.
“[Bedford] was really an integral part of the Civil Rights movement in Dallas,” Payne said.
He mentioned several times that Bedford was also “very humble.” Payne told the Dallas Morning News, “In everything he talked about, he downplayed his role. But then you talked to people like Craig Watkins, and you see the impact and influence he had on people’s lives.” (Craig Watkins is currently the district attorney in Dallas, and is the firstAfrican-American in the position in Texas.)
Bedford was allowed to practice law by the Dallas Bar Association, but “race prevented him from membership until 1964,” Payne said
The same institution that discriminated against Bedford commissioned his story to be written in his own words. To place icing on the cake, his peers are honoring him during Black History Month. Some may call that poetic justice.
