Matthew J. Perry (1924-2011 ), Jr., a native South Carolinian, became a noted civil rights attorney for the NAACP; his legal victory on behalf of Harvey Gantt's suit to be admitted to Clemson University helped overturn segregation in higher education in South Carolina in 1963 (see Harvey Gantt Admitted To Clemson University). He won 7 appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, one of which reversed the convictions of more than 7,000 people convicted in sit-in demonstrations. In 1976 he became a judge in the U.S. Military Court of Appeals and in 1979 was nominated by Senator Hollings to become South Carolina's first African-American Federal judge. This photo, taken November 10, 1983, by Vic Tutte, is of Perry as a Federal judge.
Courtesy of "The State" newspaper.
