Kansas Bar Association to celebrate civil rights in Topeka with Andrew Young appearance

The Kansas Bar Association named former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young as the keynote speaker for this year's conference, which will be hosted in Topeka at Washburn University.

"For us, it makes us reenergize," KBA president elect and Wyandotte County district attorney Mark Dupree, Sr. said. "It rejuvenates us to really make sure that we understand that what we do makes a difference and what we do is extremely important, not just to our local city and counties, but to this country and to the world. The law matters, and what we do with the law and how we utilize the law people's lives."

This year's conference on June 21 will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling. The presentations and activities will revolve around civil rights.

Who is Andrew Young?

Young is the chairman of the Andrew J. Young Foundation. The organization was founded by him and his wife, Carolyn McClain Young, in 2003 to address human and civil rights, global health, economic development and leadership development, according to the foundation's Facebook page.

Young earned his degree in divinity from Hartford Seminary in 1955, and was appointed a church pastor in Marion, Alabama, shortly after, according to a written statement from the Kansas Bar Association. During his time in Marion, he met and became friends with Martin Luther King Jr.

During the early 1960s, Young was a strategist and negotiator for the civil rights campaigns in Birmingham and Selma, Alabama; St. Augustine, Florida: and Atlanta. Young became the executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1964.

In 1972, Young was elected to the House of Representatives in 1962 and served three terms. After those three terms, he was named the United States ambassador to the United Nations in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter, according to his federal website profile.

Young also serves on the boards of the Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violent Social Change, Morehouse College, Americas Mart and the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State, where he's been an instructor, according to the release.

He is the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the French Legion d’Honneur and has received honorary degrees from more than 100 colleges and universities.

The future of the Kansas Bar Association

Dupree said this annual conference is extra special to him because not only will he get to recognize the impact the legal system has on civil rights, but he is also the first African-American to be elected KBA president.

"It's amazing to be able to enjoy the 70th commemoration, to enjoy the civil rights and equality, while at the same time having one of the oldest bars in the country to elect its first African-American to lead it," Dupree said. "It is a phenomenal time for the state of Kansas and for its lawyers."

He said he's honored to be elected, but he's even more excited to break that ceiling for the next generation.

"It feels great because what it says is you have the support of your peers and the support of those around you that believe in your ability and capability, and that feels good," Dupree said. "But it also allows others to be exposed to what can happen, not just in organizations, but in the law and in our profession. That diversity is important and that every person has a fair stake, and there is no glass ceiling. Everyone is welcome to the table."

While the conference will be held at Washburn, attendees will be encouraged to go to the Brown v. Board of Education Museum. Washburn was chosen because during the Brown v. Board case, many law students from the university assisted, Dupree said.

"Topeka, in general, has served as such a significant monument to civil rights in our country and we wanted to bring that attention back home, not just to the state of Kansas, but right there in Topeka, Kansas, where some would say the civil rights was birthed," Dupree said.

The conference is open to the public, and Dupree said he encourages people to come.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Andrew Young will speak at Kansas Bar Association event in Topeka