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Size: 6 x 9
Pages: 368
Illustrations: 18 b&w halftones

Civil Rights
Memoir & Biography
ebook
hardcover
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The Life of a Movement Lawyer

Lewis Pitts and the Struggle for Democracy, Equality, and Justice

Jason Langberg

Paperback

Published:

Hardcover
978-1-64336-481-0
Published: May 16 2024

$34.99

Ebook
978-1-64336-482-7
Published: May 16 2024

OA Ebook
978-1-64336-482-7
Published: May 16 2024

$0.00

The inclusion of this book in the Open Carolina collection is made possible by the generous funding of

Be inspired by this grassroots civil rights lawyer's quest for democracy, equality, and justice

Born in 1947 and raised in rural South Carolina, Lewis Pitts grew up oblivious to the civil rights revolution underway across the country. A directionless white college student in 1968, Pitts committed to military service and was destined for Vietnam. Five years later—after a formative period in which he underwent an intellectual and moral awakening, was discharged as a conscientious objector, and graduated from law school—he embarked on an unlikely forty-year career as a crusading social justice attorney.

The Life of a Movement Lawyer: Lewis Pitts and the Struggle for Democracy, Equality, and Justice chronicles how Pitts positively affected thousands of lives and communities, while working in various social movements and then for legal aid. These grassroots efforts included fights to end nuclear proliferation; seeking justice for victims and survivors of the Greensboro Massacre; restarting the local government in Keysville, Georgia; preserving Gullah culture on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina; and ending corruption in Robeson County, North Carolina.

Beyond documenting a life well-lived and shedding light on lesser-known activists and movements, Langberg, in this thoroughly researched biography, explores problems that continue to afflict the United States today: poverty, inequality, environmental degradation, racism, police misconduct, voter suppression, child maltreatment, and corporate power. The Life of a Movement Lawyer will energize, inspire, and compel action by those who seek to continue the pursuit of justice for all.




Jason Langberg is an education justice and civil rights lawyer. He spent the first seven years of his legal career with Legal Aid of North Carolina and the Legal Aid Justice Center in Virginia, where he was part of movements to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Boston College Law School, Langberg resides in Colorado.

"Thanks to this book, Pitts' story is lovingly preserved for posterity, along with the triumphs and struggles of his clients and the countless courageous souls who participated in the movements that he served."—Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

"By telling the story of Lewis Pitts, Langberg opens a window on history to show a new generation how the people helped make a lawyer who could represent their interests."—Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, author of White Poverty

"Langberg's portrayal of Lewis Pitts' intrepid career offers an intimate history of a half-century of legal justice movements."—Margot Lee Shetterly, author of Hidden Figures

"Lewis Pitts' story tells us what it means to be not only 'for' the people, but 'of' the people. Every law student and lawyer should read this book, and then act upon its insights."—Michael E. Tigar, law teacher, human rights lawyer, and author of Sensing Injustice

"Lewis Pitts exemplifies what it means to be courageously committed to justice. Langberg gives us a skillful and engaging account of the remarkable and inspiring sacrifices Pitts made to speak truth to power."—Anita Earls, Senior Associate Justice, North Carolina Supreme Court

"Lewis Pitts is one of the South's greatest arc benders. Langberg's moving book opens him up for all to see."—Gene Nichol, Tinsley Distinguished Professor of Law, University of North Carolina, author of The Faces of Poverty in North Carolina

"Langberg's ode to Lewis Pitts is an inspiration to all of us who have fought against white supremacy and for equal justice."—Flint Taylor, The People's Law Office, and author of The Torture Machine

"Langberg offers poignant witness to the revolutionary lifework of Lewis Pitts, peaceful warrior walking crooked roads full of torches in the middle never flinching from injustice."—Jaki Shelton Green, North Carolina Poet Laureate

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