Charles Swinger Conley

Born in Montgomery County in 1921, Conley attended private school, earning his bachelor's degree from Alabama State College following graduation from high school. He gained a history masters at University of Michigan and a jurisprudence degree from New York University Law School.{{cite web |last1=Patton |first1=Gwendolyn M. |title=Charles Conley Collection, Trenholm State Community College |url=https://www.trenholmstate.edu/current-students/student-resources/library/collections/charles-conley-collection/ |website=www.trenholmstate.edu |accessdate=4 February 2019}}{{cite journal |last1=Adcock |first1=Thomas |title=Charles Conley (1921-2010) |journal=The Law School, Magazine of the New York University School of Law |url=https://issuu.com/nyulaw/docs/law_school_magazine_2011/4 |date=26 September 2011 |page=117 |accessdate=4 February 2019 |publisher=Full Circle Color}}

After Conley returned to Montgomery he worked on many civil rights cases including the desegregation of public libraries{{cite book |last1=Graham |first1=Patterson T. |title=A right to read : segregation and civil rights in Alabama's public libraries, 1900-1965 |date=2002 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=0817311440 |page=77 |url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/search?index=books&linkCode=qs&keywords=9780817311445 |accessdate=4 February 2019}} and New York Times Co. v. Sullivan,{{cite web |title=FindLaw's United States Supreme Court case and opinions. |url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/376/254.html |website=Findlaw |accessdate=4 February 2019}} representing many notable people including Martin Luther King, Ralph Abernathy,{{cite web |title=Ralph D. Abernathy et al., Appellants, v. John Patterson, Individually and As Governor of Alabama, et al., Appellees, 295 F.2d 452 (5th Cir. 1961) |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/295/452/28633/ |website=Justia Law |accessdate=8 February 2019 |language=en}} Joseph Lowery, Solomon Snowden Seay{{cite news |title=4 IN SUIT TO OPEN RESTITUTION FIGHT; Lawyer for Negro Clerics Says Property Was Sold |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/10/archives/4-in-suit-to-open-restitution-fight-lawyer-for-negro-clerics-says.html |accessdate=8 February 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=10 March 1964}} and Fred Shuttlesworth.{{cite web |title=PDF, SCLC Newsletter, Vol. 1, September 1961, no. 3 |url=https://www.crmvet.org/docs/sclc/6109_sclc_newsletter.pdf |accessdate=8 February 2019}}{{cite book |last1=Gray |first1=Fred D. |title=Bus ride to justice : changing the system by the system : the life and works of Fred Gray, preacher, attorney, politician |date=2012 |publisher=NewSouth Books |isbn=978-1588382863 |page=175 |edition=Rev.. 2013 }} The New York Times Co. v. Sullivan case revolved around an appeal to raise funding called "Heed Their Rising Voices" by the Committee to Defend Martin Luther King and the Struggle for Freedom in the South, which appeared in the New York Times newspaper in 1960.{{cite web |last1=Dellinger |first1=Walter |title=The New York Times: The Right To Be Wrong |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/27/specials/lewis-law.html |website=archive.nytimes.com |accessdate=4 February 2019}}{{cite book|title=Amendment XV|date=March 19, 1960|work=New York Times|page=20}}

A protest starting on February 1, 1960, at the Alabama State College campus had been aggressively attended by Montgomery police, triggering the appeal. Following the New York Times call to action a libel suit was filed by police commissioner L. B. Sullivan.{{cite web |last1=McLeod |first1=Rod |title=HIGH COURT CURBS PUBLIC OFFICIALS IN LIBEL ACTIONS; It Rules for New York Times and 4 Negro Ministers in Alabama Suit on Ad; DECISION IS UNANIMOUS; Says Malice Must Be Shown —Opinion Likely to Aid Press Freedom in South |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/10/archives/high-court-curbs-public-officials-in-libel-actions-it-rules-for-new.html |website=The New York Times |accessdate=4 February 2019 |date=10 March 1964}} Attorneys Conley and Fred Gray represented accused students in local, state and federal courtrooms. The intervention resulted in restaurants and lunch-counters in 26 southern cities ending segregationist policies. Discrimination against African Americans continued in Montgomery but segregation had been effectively disputed allowing expansion of the movement to overturn racial injustice.{{cite web |last1=Robinson |first1=Dr. Howard |title=Historical Perspective of the Alabama State University Student Sit-Ins, February 25 - March 30, 1960 |url=http://www.lib.alasu.edu/natctr/programs/past/2010/student_sit_in_movement/media/stundent_sit_in_program.pdf |website=The Student Sit-In Movement at Alabama State University, A One Day Conference |accessdate=8 February 2019}}

Conley was elected in 1972 as Alabama's first Black judge of the Court of Common Pleas (Macon County).{{cite web |last1=Wingard |first1=Desmond |title=Well known Montgomery judge and civil rights leader passes away |url=http://www.wsfa.com/story/13146750/well-known-montgomery-judge-and-civil-rights-leader-passes-away/ |website=WSFA |accessdate=4 February 2019}} This court system changed to that of a District Court, and Judge Conley was re-elected in 1976. Conley served as attorney of record for cases until 1992, when he officially retired.

Before Conley's death, he had made provisions for a $1.2 million donation to his Alma mater to create the Honorable Charles Swinger Conley Scholarship Fund within the AnBryce Program at the New York University School of Law.

• List of African-American jurists

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Category:1921 births

Category:2010 deaths

Category:Georgia (U.S. state) lawyers

Category:Lawyers from Montgomery, Alabama

Category:New York Law School alumni

Category:20th-century American judges

Category:20th-century American lawyers

Category:Alabama State University alumni

Category:University of Michigan alumni