Brown@50
Fulfilling the Promise
Howard University
School of Law
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Brown@50 Fulfilling the Promise |
Howard University School of Law |
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Brown@50 Robert
L. Carter
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Biography
After earning his undergraduate degree from Howard University, Reeves attended Howard University School of Law, graduating in 1939 in the same class that produced Spottswood William Robinson III. After receiving his law degree, Mr. Reeves went to New York City to work for the NAACP. Reeves was a co-author of the brief (with Thurgood Marshall) in Sipuel v. Board of Regents of Univ. of Okla., 332 U.S. 631 (1948), one of the leading cases of the 1940s that paved the way to Brown. Reeves was also on the Brown briefs. He was a part of the legal crusaders in mid-20th Century that contributed so much to the cause of equality, including Thurgood Marshall, Robert L. Carter, Jack Greenberg, Spottswood W. Robinson, III, James Madison Nabrit, Jr., Constance Baker Motley, and Oliver Hill. In 1960, Reeves became the first African American to serve on the Democratic National Committee. He was an advisor on minority affairs to Senator John F. Kennedy, the Democratic nominee for president. During the 1960's Frank Reeves taught Constitutional Law at the Howard University School of Law while he also served as counsel to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and helped negotiate the historic March on Washington in 1963. One of the most important post-Brown cases Professor Reeves worked on was Powell v. McCormick, 395 U.S. 486 (1969), in which he represented Congressman Adam Clayton Powell of New York (Harlem). In Powell v. McCormick, the Court held that the House of Representatives was without power to exclude from its membership any person who was duly elected and met the age, citizenship and residential requirements stated in the U.S. Constitution.
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