Celebrating Federal Judge Stephan Mickle

JUDGE STEPHAN P.
MICKLE
Celebrating Ten Years
on the Federal Bench
From the CSRRR Director
planned a memorable celebration.
challenge is broad and there are many
is designed to enhance race-related
Judge Mickle’s life offers an important
landmines. Understanding race and
knowledge and encourage race-related
in the celebration of Judge Stephan
opportunity to see how race matters.
its role in the United States, in both
dialogue. Ultimately, we seek to foster
Pierre Mickle’s ten years of service on
His life story involves many interrelated
contemporary and historical times, is
discussions about race that enlighten
the federal bench. The story of Judge
themes—including race, racism, politics,
essential to understanding who we are
rather than stigmatize.
Mickle’s life is a community story,
education, civil rights, and law. Judge
and who we can be as Americans and
one that has had an impact on each
Mickle’s unique life tapestry allows us to
as world citizens.
of us. His story is one of dedication,
understand not just his life but the lives
opportunity, and perseverance. It is a
story for the history books.
It is such an honor to have a part
Befitting the occasion, we have
We thank Judge Mickle for allowing
us celebrate his life and his legacy. We
This evening’s celebration fits
thank you for joining us this evening and
of other African American “firsts” and
squarely within the mission of UF’s
we thank you for joining us in our work.
their impact on society at large.
Center for the Study of Race and
“Doing race” is hard work. The
Katheryn Russell-Brown
CSRRR Director and Professor of Law
Race Relations (CSRRR). Our work
1946
Ulysses Kenisy and Eliott
Robbins apply to UF Law
School and are denied as per
Florida law forbidding African
American admissions.
1944
Stephan P. Mickle is
born in New York City.
1949
Virgil Hawkins and
William T. Lewis are
denied admission to
UF Law School.
1945
World War II ends.
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1946–1958 85 African American students apply to the University of Florida and are denied admission.
D
d
e
i
n
e
1953
SPRING LECTURE 2008 University of Florida, Hilton Hotel, March 28, 2008
Honoring Judge Stephan P. Mickle
5:30-6:30 Wine & Cheese Reception
6:30-7:30 Dinner and Dessert Table
7:30-7:45 Welcoming Remarks
Katheryn Russell-Brown
CSRRR Director and Professor
J. Bernard Machen
UF President
Robert Jerry, II
Dean, Levin College of Law
Cynthia Chestnut
Alachua County Commissioner
1957
1955
Montgomery Bus
Boycott. Culminates in
U.S. Supreme Court
decision (in Browder v.
Gayle) declaring racial
segregation in buses in
Alabama unconstitutional.
Florida Supreme Court upholds
Virgil Hawkins’s denial of
admission to the Law School.
Justice Stephen C. O’Connell, who
later served as the University’s
president, concurs in the decision.
Brown v. Board
of Education.
1954
8:00-8:15 Sharon Rush, Professor
Reflections on Judge Mickle’s
Service on the Bench
Federal troops escort nine African
American students into Little Rock
Central High School to uphold
desegregation order in Brown v
Board of Education.
Civil Rights Act of 1957 – first
civil rights legislation passed since
Reconstruction.
1954
7:45-8:00 Kenneth Nunn, Professor
Race at UF: A Historical Overview
8:15-8:20 W. George Allen
First UF Law African American
UF Alumnus
8:20-8:30 Elizabeth Rowe, Professor
Judge Mickle as Teacher
and Mentor
8:30-8:35 Jonathan Blocker, BLSA President
Judge Mickle’s Legacy as
Passing the Torch
8:35-8:40 Aaron Green, Attorney
Introduction of Special Guest
8:40-8:50 Stephan P. Mickle
Federal Judge
Remarks
8:50
Katheryn Russell-Brown
1959
The College of Law celebrates its 50th anniversary.
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1962
First African American undergraduates (7 students,
including Stephan P. Mickle) register at UF.
1958
Hawkins withdraws his application to UF Law
School in exchange for the desegregation of UF
graduate and professional schools; attends New
England School of Law.
George Starke is the first African American to
be admitted to the UF Law School. Attends
under police protection for the first few weeks;
eventually withdraws after three semesters.
W. George Allen first African
American to receive a degree
from the UF Law School.
1963
1964
1963
March on Washington
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s
“I Have a Dream,” speech.
President John F. Kennedy is
assassinated.
1964
St Augustine Beach Race Riot: A group of whites attack 75 African
Americans as they attempt to integrate the beach. Twelve people are injured.
Alachua County schools are desegregated.
Civil Rights Act of 1964.
1970
Stephan P. Mickle second
African American to graduate
from UF Law School.
1967
1965
Evelyn Moore
(Mickle)
first African
American
graduate of UF
Nursing.
Stephan P. Mickle
is the first African
American to earn
an undergraduate
degree from UF
(political science).
Center for African
Studies established
at UF.
Thurgood
Marshall
becomes the
first African
American to
serve on the
United States
Supreme
Court.
Malcolm X is
assassinated.
Passage of the Voting
Rights Act.
Black Law Student Association (BLSA)
established at UF and named after W.
George Allen – first African American
graduate of UF Law School.
Hazel Land becomes the first African
American woman to enroll at the UF
College of Law; first African American
female graduate in 1973.
Dr. Henry Earl Cotman and Dr.
Reuben Earl Brigetry become the first
African-American graduates of the UF
College of Medicine.
UF faculty and staff become integrated
when seven African-Americans
become faculty and one becomes
an administrator.
Stephen C. O’Connell becomes
the sixth President of the
University of Florida.
1965
1966
1967
Stephan P. Mickle earns a Master
of Education degree from the
University of Florida.
Gainesville High School studentathlete Eddie McAshan becomes
first African American high school
quarterback to play for a white
school in Florida. The Klan burns
crosses on the coach’s lawn.
African-American students stage a sit-in at President O’Connell’s office
to protest policies regarding minorities. Sixty-six students are suspended and arrested
on O’Connell’s orders.
“Black Thursday” protest: when O’Connell does not yield to BSU demands for amnesty
for the suspended students, approximately one-third of UF’s African American students
and several faculty members leave the university.
Neil Butler elected mayor of Gainesville, the first African American mayor since Josiah
Walls served during the Reconstruction period (summer of 1873).
An increase in the number of minorities at UF Law School is made possible through the
federally-funded Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO).
1968
1968
1966
1971
Stephan P. Mickle joins the faculty
of the College of Law as an Assistant Professor.
Track athlete Johnnie
Brown is the first African
American at UF to compete
in an intercollegiate sport.
Black Student Union (BSU)
established at UF.
1969
1970
1969
Spencer Boyer is hired as a visiting professor and
first African American to teach at UF Law School. He
leaves Gainesville abruptly after receiving threats.
Leonard George and Willie Jackson become the first
African American football players signed at UF.
Martin Luther King, Jr. is
assassinated.
Lincoln High School is closed. Its all-African
American student body is integrated into various
public schools in Gainesville.
Senator Robert F. Kennedy
is assassinated.
African American Studies program established in
the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
1971
1972
1973
1974
1972
Stephan P. Mickle becomes the
first African-American to establish
a law practice in Gainesville,
Florida and continues to teach at
the law school, part-time.
Institute of Black Culture (IBC)
established and dedicated.
Kappa Alpha Psi establishes the
first historically African American
Greek-letter undergraduate
fraternity chapter on UF campus.
1973
Cynthia Mays is elected UF’s first African
American Miss Homecoming.
President O’Connell announces his
retirement from the University of Florida.
1975
Lifetime Achievements: Judge
1976
Stephan P. Mickle
The Honorable Stephan P. Mickle is recognized
and began serving as an adjunct professor of
for the Conference of County Court Judges
recognized with the Conference of County
today by the Center for the Study of Race &
law at the University of Florida, a position
of Florida. He is a member of the American
Court Judges’ Distinguished Leadership Award,
Race Relations, University of Florida, Levin
he still holds.
Inns of Court, the Tallahassee Barristers
the Florida State Voter’s League’s Award for
College of Law for his notable leadership, his
Association, The American Law Institute, and
Accomplishments in Law, the University of
outstanding accomplishments in law and his
years on the Florida County Court in Alachua
the Florida Bar. In addition, he is a member
Florida Black Alumni Association’s “Man
dedicated service to the community. A man
County and eight years on the Florida Circuit
of the Eighth Judicial Circuit Bar, the National
of the Year” Award and the Florida Chapter
of determination, he was the first African
Court, Eighth Judicial Circuit in Gainesville. In
Bar and the American Bar Associations.
of the National Bar Association’s Award for
American to earn a bachelor’s degree from
1993, he began serving on the First District
Exemplary Service. He has received the
the University of Florida, the first to become
Court of Appeal in Tallahassee. In 1998, he
Board of Directors of the University of Florida
Black American Law Student Association’s
a judge in the 8th Judicial Circuit of Florida
was confirmed by the United State Senate
National Alumni Association and currently
Outstanding University of Florida Alumnus
and the first to serve as a federal judge in the
as United States Judge, U. S. District Court,
serves on Board of Trustees of the University of
Award and has been granted honorary
Northern District of Florida.
Northern District of Florida.
Florida Law Center Association (Emeritus).
membership in Florida Blue Key.
Mickle earned his Bachelor of Arts degree
Beginning in 1979, Mickle served five
Mickle has served as a member of the
Mickle has served twelve years on the
He was the first African-American to
He and his wife, Evelyn, also an alumnus
in 1965, his Master of Education degree in
Board of Governors of the Young Lawyers Section,
receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award from
of the University of Florida (class of 1967),
1966 and his Juris Doctor degree in 1970
Florida Bar; Chairman of the Eighth Judicial
the University of Florida at its commencement
live in Gainesville, Florida. They have two
—all from the University of Florida. Upon
Grievance Committee (a member of the
exercises in May, 1999.
daughters, Stephanie and Amy Grace, a son,
graduation, he established a legal practice
committee for three years); and a board member
Stephan, II and a son/nephew Cotie.
1977
1978
1979
1980
1979
1977
Virgil Hawkins admitted to
Florida Bar and begins his
law practice, 27 years after
he first applied for admission
to UF Law School.
Aaron Green becomes
the third African American
mayor of Gainesville.
1981
His accomplishments have been
1982
1983
1984
1985
1984 Stephan P. Mickle
becomes the first
African American
county judge in
Alachua County.
Stephan P. Mickle becomes the first African
American Circuit judge in the Eighth Circuit.
The Office of Graduate Minority Programs at
UF is established by the Graduate School.
1980
The Black Honor Society,
Beta Eta Sigma, founded
on UF campus.
1985
1986
1986
Pamela Bingham
becomes the first
African American
female elected UF
Student Government
President.
Virgil Hawkins is brought before
the Florida Bar on ethics charges.
Unable to afford a lawyer, he resigns
from the Florida Bar.
1994
Florida legislature awards
compensation to the victims
of the 1923 Rosewood, FL
massacre.
1990
Law student Jerry Hamilton
becomes the first African
American president of the UF
College of Law, John Marshall
Bar Association.
Virgil Hawkins dies at
the age of 81. He is
posthumously reinstated
to the Florida Bar.
1987
1988
1992
Leander Shaw becomes the
first African American to serve
as Chief Justice of the Florida
Supreme Court.
1988
1989
1990
The first “Umoja Graduation
Celebration” is held, an event
created by the UF BSU to
honor UF’s graduating African
American students.
Corrine Brown, Alcee
Hastings, and Carrie
Meek become the first
African Americans since
Josiah Walls (1870s) to
represent Florida in the
U.S. Congress.
1991
1992
1993
1991
1989
The Virgil Hawkins Clinic
at Levin College of Law
named in memory of
Virgil Darnell Hawkins, a
crusader for civil rights.
Clarence Thomas is appointed
to the U.S. Supreme Court;
second African American man
to serve on the high court
following Thurgood Marshall’s
retirement from the Court.
BAM! (Black Awareness
Movement) takes place, a
peaceful protest and takeover
of Student Government over
the allocation of Black History
Month funds.
1993
Stephan P. Mickle
becomes the first African
American (and only
lawyer) from the Eighth
Judicial Circuit appointed
to the First District Court
of Appeals.
1994
1995
1996
1997
2003
In Virginia v. Black, the United States Supreme Court rules
that burning a cross at a Klan rally is protected by the First
Amendment, but it can be a criminal offense if the intent is
to intimidate, and not to promote “shared ideology.”
African Americans at the University of Florida, by Betty
Stewart-Dowdell and Kevin McCarthy is published.
2001
UF faculty awards first
posthumous degree
in 150 years to Virgil
Hawkins with unanimous
consent of Faculty,
Senate, and Board of
Regents.
1998
Stephan P. Mickle becomes the first African
American federal judge of the Northern District
of Florida. He was nominated by President
Clinton and unanimously confirmed by the
United States Senate.
The Center for the Study of Race and Race
Relations is created at UF Levin College of Law.
First Director, Rahim Reed.
1998
1999
1999
Stephan P. Mickle becomes
the first African American
UF graduate to receive
the University of Florida
Distinguished Alumnus
Award.
Professor Kenneth Nunn is
appointed Associate Dean
for Law Center Affairs at UF
College of Law.
2000
In Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger, U.S. Supreme
Court rules against race as a determining factor
in admissions to the University of Michigan.
Katheryn Russell-Brown appointed Professor and Director,
Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations.
Dr. James Bernard Machen is elected the 11th president of
the University of Florida.
Student leaders present
UF President Charles
Young with a list of
recommendations to
make UF more accepting
of diversity.
2005
The Independent Florida Alligator
newspaper prints a cartoon featuring
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice
using the n-word towards rapper
Kanye West. Backlash endured for
weeks on the UF campus, eventually
garnering an apology from the paper.
UF “Rally Against Hate”
takes place, in which over
300 students, faculty and
staff participate.
2001
2002
Stephan P. Mickle celebrates
ten years on the Federal bench.
Hurricane Katrina.
2003
2004
2000
Associate Dean Kenneth Nunn resigns deanship in protest over the Law School’s lack of faculty diversity.
u
d
ra
2005
2006
d
e
at
Largest graduating class of African-American law students—57 out of 70 minority graduates—in the history
of University of Florida Law School.
Members of the UF Law School’s Moot Court Team found to have exchanged notes containing racial slurs
and obscene remarks about students trying out for the organization.
Presidential election crisis. State of Florida is at the center of it and reports of voting rights violations emerge.
This leads the NAACP to sue the state (NAACP v. Harris) and to a U.S. Supreme Court case, Bush v. Gore.
g
2008
Florida Board of Regents approves the implementation of One Florida. Governor Jeb Bush’s plan ends race
and gender preferences in college admissions in the state of Florida.
2007
2008
About the: Center
Mission Statement
for the Study of Race and Race Relations
Vision
• Developing and supporting—through
The University of Florida Center for the
The Center for the Study of Race and Race
Study of Race and race Relations (CSRRR) is
Relations (CSRRR) is an academic research
teaching, research, writing, and
committed to de-stigmatizing race in America.
and resource center. The Center’s mission will
workshops—race-related curricula for
With the objective of fostering communities of
be met through the work of various groups
collegiate and professional schools;
dialogue, the Center embraces historically and
engaged in a wide range of activities. This
empirically based thinking, talking, teaching,
work includes:
discussing issues of race and ethnicity,
and writing on race. To this end, the Center
• Producing, supporting, and highlighting
including African Americans, Latino/as,
• Fostering non-stigmatizing ways of
creates and supports programs designed to
race-related scholarship within and beyond
American Indians, Asian Americans, and
enhance race-related curriculum development
the UF community;
Whites.
for faculty, staff and students in collegiate
and professional schools. Of the five U.S.
law schools with race centers, the CSRRR is
uniquely focused on curriculum development.
• Gathering, analyzing, and sharing historical
and contemporary knowledge about race
and race relations;
Invitation
Please join us in our efforts
to identify and address the
many difficult but important
race-related issues.
We look forward to
working with you. We
welcome your questions and
comments at
[email protected].
UNIVERSITY of FLORIDA
CENTER FOR
THE STUDY OF RACE
AND RACE RELATIONS