Hope Stevens
{{short description|American lawyer}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Hope R. Stevens
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1905|02|04|df=yes}}{{cite news|last1=Smothers|first1=Ronald|title=Hope Stevens, 77, Harlem Leader, Lawyer and Businessman, is dead|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/25/obituaries/hope-stevens-77-harlem-leader-lawyer-and-businessman-is-dead.html|accessdate=16 January 2017|work=The New York Times|date=June 25, 1982}}
|birth_place = Tortola, British Virgin Islands{{cite web |date=10 April 2006 |title=CUNY-Dominican Studies Institute’s Archives Receive Document Collection Of Attorney, Activist Hope R. Stevens |url=http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2006/04/10/cuny-dominican-studies-institutes-archives-receive-document-collection-of-attorney-activist-hope-r-stevens/ |website=CUNY-Dominican Studies Institute’s | url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190429070612/http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2006/04/10/cuny-dominican-studies-institutes-archives-receive-document-collection-of-attorney-activist-hope-r-stevens/ |archive-date=29 April 2019 |access-date=19 April 2025}}
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1982|06|24|1905|02|04|df=yes}}
|death_place = Queens, New York
|death_cause =
|known_for = Lawyer, Political activist, businessman
}}
Hope R. Stevens (February 4, 1905 – June 24, 1982) was a lawyer, political and civic activist, and businessman.
Early life and education
Born in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands and raised on Nevis, he was one of the founders of the Barbados Labour Party.{{Citation needed|date=January 2017}} Stevens moved to the United States in 1924 and graduated from City College of New York in 1933 and Brooklyn Law School in 1936. He was admitted to the New York bar in 1937.{{cite web |last=Smothers |first=Ronald |date=25 June 1982 |title=HOPE STEVENS, 77, HARLEM LEADER, LAWYER AND BUSINESSMAN, IS DEAD |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/25/obituaries/hope-stevens-77-harlem-leader-lawyer-and-businessman-is-dead.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=19 April 2025}} He was later based in Harlem, New York, and became the president of the Uptown Chamber of Commerce from 1960 to 1977.{{cite web |last=Smothers |first=Ronald |date=25 June 1982 |title=HOPE STEVENS, 77, HARLEM LEADER, LAWYER AND BUSINESSMAN, IS DEAD |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/25/obituaries/hope-stevens-77-harlem-leader-lawyer-and-businessman-is-dead.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=19 April 2025}}
Career
He served as "Co-chairperson of the National Conference of Black Lawyers.{{cite web |last=Smothers |first=Ronald |date=25 June 1982 |title=HOPE STEVENS, 77, HARLEM LEADER, LAWYER AND BUSINESSMAN, IS DEAD |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/25/obituaries/hope-stevens-77-harlem-leader-lawyer-and-businessman-is-dead.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=19 April 2025}} He appeared as the defense counsel during the trial in absentia of Pol Pot and Ieng Sary at the People's Revolutionary Tribunal held by the Vietnamese-backed People's Republic of Kampuchea in Phnom Penh in 1979.{{cite book | author=Shawcross, William | author-link=William Shawcross | title=The Quality of Mercy - Cambodia, Holocaust and Modern Conscience | publisher=Simon and Schuster, New York | year=1984 | isbn=0-671-44022-5 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/qualityofmercyca00shaw_0 }} {{page needed|date=December 2022}} Stevens belonged to the New York branch of the Association of Democratic Lawyers.{{cite book | author=Dr. Gregory H. Stanton | author-link=Gregory Stanton | title=The Cambodian Genocide and International Law | year=1992 | editor=Kiernan, Ben | editor-link=Ben Kiernan }}
He was awarded Order of the British Empire because of his public service to a number of the governments. {{cite web |last=Smothers |first=Ronald |date=25 June 1982 |title=HOPE STEVENS, 77, HARLEM LEADER, LAWYER AND BUSINESSMAN, IS DEAD |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/25/obituaries/hope-stevens-77-harlem-leader-lawyer-and-businessman-is-dead.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=19 April 2025}}
References
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Category:British Virgin Islands emigrants to the United States
Category:British Virgin Islands emigrants
Category:Immigrants to Saint Kitts and Nevis
Category:20th-century American lawyers
Category:Brooklyn Law School alumni
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