Fay Stender

{{Infobox person

|name = Fay Stender

|image =

|image_size =250px

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|alt =

|birth_name = Fay Abrahams

|birth_date = March 29, 1932

|birth_place = San Francisco, California, U.S.

|death_date = {{death date and age|1980|5|19|1932|3|29}}

|death_place = British Hong Kong

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|known_for = Prisoner rights activism

|education = B.A. in English literature; law degree

|alma_mater = Reed College; University of California, Berkeley; University of Chicago

|occupation = Lawyer

|spouse = Marvin Stender

|children = Neal and Oriane Stender

|parents =

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}}

Fay Abrahams Stender (March 29, 1932 – May 19, 1980) was an American lawyer from the San Francisco Bay Area, and a prisoner rights activist. Some of her better-known clients included Black Panther leader Huey Newton, and the Soledad Brothers, including Black Guerrilla Family founder George Jackson.

Soledad Brothers and George Jackson

In 1970, after Stender edited and arranged for Jackson's prison letters to be published as Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson, he became a celebrity.{{cite news|author=Perry, Douglas|title=The Life and Death of Fay Stender|date=July 5, 2015|newspaper=The Oregonian|location=Portland, Oregon|pages=8–9|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/living/index.ssf/2015/06/why_reedie_and_radical_lawyer.html}} She persuaded French intellectual Jean Genet to write an introduction, propelling the book to a best seller.{{cite book|editor=Franklin, H. Bruce|title=Prison Writing in 20th-Century America|year=1998|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YHB0pN8zUg4C&pg=PT142 |publisher=Penguin Books|via=Google Books|accessdate=July 9, 2015|isbn=9781440621284}} The substantial proceeds from the book went to a legal defense fund that she set up. Stender eventually had a falling out with Jackson over his repeated requests that she smuggle weapons and explosives into the prison.{{cite journal|author1=Horowitz, David|author2-link=Peter Collier (political author)|author2=Collier, Peter|title=Requiem for a Radical|journal=New West Magazine|year=1981}}{{cite journal|author=Russell, Diana E. H.|title=Fay Stender and the Politics of Murder|url=http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/1991spring/Russell_spring1991.php |journal =On The Issues|issue=Spring 1991|accessdate=July 8, 2015|author-link=Diana E. H. Russell}} Jackson was killed in 1971 during an attempted escape from San Quentin prison.{{cite news|title=Fay Stender Is Dead: Activists' Attorney|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 22, 1980|page=B13|id={{ProQuest|121396153}} }}

Death and legacy

In 1979, Black Guerrilla Family member Edward Glenn Brooks, recently paroled, entered Stender's home in Berkeley, tied up her son, daughter, and her lover Joan Morris{{cite web|title=Fay Stender and the Politics of Murder|url=https://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/1991spring/Russell_spring1991.php|author=Diana Russell|date=Spring 1991|accessdate=March 7, 2019}} and shot Stender several times for what he said was Stender's betrayal of Jackson.{{Cite news |title=Fay Sender is Dead; Activists's Attorney; Collapses in Hong Kong at Age 48 Defended Huey Newton and Backed Prison Reforms Counseled Black Activists Gunman Enters Home Ended Law Practice |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.comhttp//timesmachine.content-tagging.us-east-1-01.prd.dvsp.nyt.net/timesmachine/1980/05/22/111159003.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |access-date=2024-01-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en}} Brooks forced Stender to state: "I, Fay Stender, admit I betrayed George Jackson and the prison movement when they needed me most" just before he shot her.{{Cite web |date=2011-01-02 |title=On The Issues Magazine: Spring 1991: Fay Stender and the Politics of Murder by Diana Russell |url=http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/1991spring/Russell_spring1991.php |access-date=2024-01-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102221307/http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/1991spring/Russell_spring1991.php |archive-date=2011-01-02 }} Stender was left paralyzed below the waist; in constant pain from her injuries, she committed suicide in Hong Kong about a year later, after testifying against Brooks. Brooks was sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment for Stender's attempted murder in 1980.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/santa-cruz-sentinel-brooks-sentenced-f/21651480/|title=Brooks Sentenced To 17 Years On Attempted Murder Count|work=Santa Cruz Sentinel|date=February 22, 1980|access-date=December 28, 2023}}

The California Women Lawyers Association has an award dedicated to her memory. Established in 1982, the annual award is given to "a feminist attorney who, like Fay Stender, is committed to the representation of women, disadvantaged groups and unpopular causes, and whose courage, zest for life and demonstrated ability to effect change as a single individual make her a role model for women attorneys."{{cite web|title=Fay Stender Award|url=http://www.cwl.org/news-events/Faystenderaward|publisher=California Women Lawyers|year=2013|accessdate=July 8, 2015|archive-date=April 12, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130412080911/http://www.cwl.org/news-events/Faystenderaward|url-status=dead}}