2006 AAJ Minority Caucus
Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. Soaring Eagles Award Recipient
The Honorable Matthew J. Perry, Jr.
 The
AAJ Minority Caucus has chosen to honor Matthew J. Perry, Jr. with
the 2006 Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. Soaring Eagles Award. The award will
be presented to Judge Perry at the Minority Caucus reception on July
18, 2006, during AAJ's Annual Convention in Seattle, Washington.
Matthew J. Perry, Jr. was arguably the leading civil rights attorney
in South Carolina during the decades of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. According
to Judge Perry, he embarked upon his extraordinary career after "a
growing awareness of racial injustices, many of them manifested by
state laws, led me to conclude that I needed to learn and practice
law."
Matthew J. Perry was born in Columbia, South Carolina. After serving
in the United States Army during World War II from 1942 to 1946, Perry
completed his undergraduate education and decided to study law at
South Carolina State College. As a fledgling attorney, Matthew Perry
took the cases no one else would dare touch for fear of retribution.
His dedication to civil liberties prompted his wife, Hallie Bacote
Perry, to say, "He was determined to do the things he needed
to do, not only for one race, but for everybody. And he was a gentleman
all through the fight."
Perry said his most satisfying case was helping Charleston's Harvey
Gantt integrate Clemson University in 1963. This historic case prompted
the University of South Carolina to integrate the following year.
For his entire body of work, but for this case especially, Perry received
numerous death threats, but that did not stop him from proudly leading
the caravan to deliver Gantt, later the first black mayor of Charlotte,
to his inaugural day as an architecture student at Clemson.
He demonstrated similar success and dogged determination in litigating
to create single-member voting districts in South Carolina. The 1972
reapportionment case enabled blacks to be elected to the Legislature
in significant numbers for the first time since post Reconstruction.
Matthew Perry, himself, ran for Congress in the Second Congressional
District in 1974. Although he was unsuccessful, he had already made
a lasting mark on South Carolina's political future by ensuring African
Americans would have a seat at the table.
Perry had a hand in almost every case that integrated South Carolina's
public schools, hospitals, golf courses, restaurants, parks, playgrounds,
and beaches. He individually tried 6,000 cases, and his work led to
the release of some 7,000 people arrested for sit-in protests.
In 1975 Perry became the first black lawyer from the Deep South to
be appointed to the federal bench when President Gerald Ford nominated
him to serve on the U.S. Military Court of Appeals in Washington,
D.C. Four years later, President Jimmy Carter nominated Judge Perry
to the United States District Court in South Carolina, which allowed
him to return home. He was appointed senior judge in October 1995
and continues to serve in that capacity today.
Cosmos Broadcasting Company named Perry South Carolinian of the Year
in 1977. He is a recipient of the NAACP's William R. Ming Advocacy
Award, and was presented the Order of the Palmetto by South Carolina
Governor Richard Riley in 1986. He has received South Carolina State's
Distinguished Alumnus Award twice, in 1972 and 1980, and received
the Spirit of Excellence Award by the American Bar Association Commission
on Opportunities for Minorities in 1998. On April 23, 2004, a Federal
Courthouse was constructed in Columbia, South Carolina, and named
the "Matthew J. Perry, Jr. Courthouse," dedicated in Judge
Perry's honor.
Judge Perry is married to the former Hallie Bacote of Timmonsville,
and they have a son, Michael. Judge Perry an active member of Zion
Baptist Church in Columbia.
All AAJ members attending the AAJ Annual Convention in Seattle are
welcome to attend the Minority Caucus reception. If you have any questions,
please contact Staff Liaison Kevin Mills at kevin.mills@justice.org
or call 800-424-2725, ext. 302, or 202-965-3500, ext. 302
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