Remembering Florence Victoria Lucas, Civil Rights Pioneer: An Authorized Biography

Florence Victoria Lucas, 1915-1987, was the first Black woman admitted to the practice of law in Queens, New York, in 1940. She came from poor working class parents who supported her ambitions with their most precious assets: their love and their faith in God. She was mentored by other civil rights pioneers, including Thurgood Marshall, Jane Bolin, Sarah Speaks, Walter Gellhorn and Elmer Carter. In turn, Florence Lucas mentored and assisted many others who followed her lead into politics and law. As a lawyer, she organized the largest chapter of the NAACP in Queens, NY and spearheaded the growth of the civil rights movement throughout New York State. She was the first Black woman to be nominated by a major political party for election to the New York City Council. She served as second-in-command of the New York State Commission on Human Rights from 1966-75; helped to re-write New York State's civil rights' law, and design the administrative hearing process. She was a member of the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church, a Sunday school teacher, a choir director and lyricist, who wrote the words to a complex anthem about the civil rights movement, and a tireless fighter for brotherhood, racial and religious harmony.

Part One of this book is the author's memoir of Florence Victoria Lucas, telling how, despite rigid de facto segregation in 1959, she bravely reached across racial and religious lines to rescue one troubled white teenager (the author). Part Two traces Florence Victoria Lucas' life and work chronologically, through her own papers and in her own words: her tenacious journey through poverty and discrimination to gain an education, and her principled foray into law practice and the civil rights movement. In each of her activities, she exemplifies, as Thurgood Marshall once said of her, what one American woman can do through unselfish work in the interest of equality and justice for all.

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