Crusader For Justice: The Honorable Damon J. Keith

Thu Feb 27 2014 | 2016-05-18 10:00:00 @ Frank Hayden Community Room

Join WCCCD in honoring Judge Damon J. Keith and his legacy detailed in his new biography, Crusader for Justice. This event is open to the public at no cost.

In the book, Judge Keith describes his ascent from a janitor to one of the greatest American jurists and civil rights advocates to be appointed to the bench. Appointed to the federal bench in 1967, The Honorable Damon J. Keith has served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit since 1977, where he has been a defender of civil and constitutional rights and a vigorous enforcer of civil rights law.

Crusader for Justice, written by authors Peter J. Hammer and Trevor W. Coleman, surveys Judge Keith’s education, influences, major cases and includes a host of his notable friends and colleagues. The book traces Keith’s early life, from his public school days in Detroit to his time in the U.S. Army and his law school years at Howard University at the dawn of the Civil Rights era. The authors reveal how “Keith’s passion for racial and social justice informed his career and provides detail on his most famous cases, including the Pontiac Busing and Hamtramck Housing cases, and  the 1977 Detroit Police affirmative action case, among others.