JUDGE STEPHAN P.

Celebrating Ten Years on the Federal Bench

MICKLE

DenieD

1945World War II ends.

1946Ulysses Kenisy and Eliott Robbins apply to UF Law School and are denied as per Florida law forbidding African American admissions.

1949Virgil Hawkins and William T. Lewis are denied admission to UF Law School.

1944Stephan P. Mickle is born in New York City.

It is such an honor to have a part

in the celebration of Judge Stephan

Pierre Mickle’s ten years of service on

the federal bench. The story of Judge

Mickle’s life is a community story,

one that has had an impact on each

of us. His story is one of dedication,

opportunity, and perseverance. It is a

story for the history books.

Befitting the occasion, we have

planned a memorable celebration.

Judge Mickle’s life offers an important

opportunity to see how race matters.

His life story involves many interrelated

themes—including race, racism, politics,

education, civil rights, and law. Judge

Mickle’s unique life tapestry allows us to

understand not just his life but the lives

of other African American “firsts” and

their impact on society at large.

“Doing race” is hard work. The

challenge is broad and there are many

landmines. Understanding race and

its role in the United States, in both

contemporary and historical times, is

essential to understanding who we are

and who we can be as Americans and

as world citizens.

This evening’s celebration fits

squarely within the mission of UF’s

Center for the Study of Race and

Race Relations (CSRRR). Our work

is designed to enhance race-related

knowledge and encourage race-related

dialogue. Ultimately, we seek to foster

discussions about race that enlighten

rather than stigmatize.

We thank Judge Mickle for allowing

us celebrate his life and his legacy. We

thank you for joining us this evening and

we thank you for joining us in our work.

1946–1958 85 African American students apply to the University of Florida and are denied admission.

1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 195319441943

From the CSRRR Director

Katheryn Russell-BrownCSRRR Director and Professor of Law

1954Brown v. Board of Education.

1955Montgomery Bus Boycott. Culminates in U.S. Supreme Court decision (in Browder v. Gayle) declaring racial segregation in buses in Alabama unconstitutional.

1957Florida Supreme Court upholds Virgil Hawkins’s denial of admission to the Law School. Justice Stephen C. O’Connell, who later served as the University’s president, concurs in the decision.

Federal troops escort nine African American students into Little Rock Central High School to uphold desegregation order in Brown v Board of Education.

Civil Rights Act of 1957 – first civil rights legislation passed since Reconstruction.

1958Hawkins withdraws his application to UF Law School in exchange for the desegregation of UF graduate and professional schools; attends New England School of Law.

George Starke is the first African American to be admitted to the UF Law School. Attends under police protection for the first few weeks; eventually withdraws after three semesters.

1959The College of Law celebrates its 50th anniversary.

1962First African American undergraduates (7 students, including Stephan P. Mickle) register at UF.

W. George Allen first African American to receive a degree from the UF Law School.

1963March on Washington Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream,” speech.

President John F. Kennedy is assassinated.

1964St Augustine Beach Race Riot: A group of whites attack 75 African Americans as they attempt to integrate the beach. Twelve people are injured.

Alachua County schools are desegregated.

Civil Rights Act of 1964.

5:30-6:30 Wine & Cheese Reception

6:30-7:30 Dinner and Dessert Table

7:30-7:45 Welcoming Remarks Katheryn Russell-Brown CSRRR Director and Professor J. Bernard Machen UF President Robert Jerry, II Dean, Levin College of Law Cynthia Chestnut Alachua County Commissioner

7:45-8:00 Kenneth Nunn, Professor Race at UF: A Historical Overview

8:00-8:15 Sharon Rush, Professor Reflections on Judge Mickle’s Service on the Bench

8:15-8:20 W. George Allen First UF Law African American UF Alumnus

8:20-8:30 Elizabeth Rowe, Professor Judge Mickle as Teacher and Mentor

8:30-8:35 Jonathan Blocker, BLSA President Judge Mickle’s Legacy as Passing the Torch

8:35-8:40 Aaron Green, Attorney Introduction of Special Guest

8:40-8:50 Stephan P. Mickle Federal Judge Remarks

8:50 Katheryn Russell-Brown

1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964

SPRING LECTURE 2008 University of Florida, Hilton Hotel, March 28, 2008

Honoring Judge Stephan P. Mickle

1966 Stephan P. Mickle earns a Master of Education degree from the University of Florida.

Gainesville High School student-athlete Eddie McAshan becomes first African American high school quarterback to play for a white school in Florida. The Klan burns crosses on the coach’s lawn.

1967Evelyn Moore (Mickle) first African American graduate of UF Nursing.

Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African American to serve on the United States Supreme Court.

Stephen C. O’Connell becomes the sixth President of the University of Florida.

1968Track athlete Johnnie Brown is the first African American at UF to compete in an intercollegiate sport.

Black Student Union (BSU) established at UF.

Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated.

Senator Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated.

1969Spencer Boyer is hired as a visiting professor and first African American to teach at UF Law School. He leaves Gainesville abruptly after receiving threats.

Leonard George and Willie Jackson become the first African American football players signed at UF.

Lincoln High School is closed. Its all-African American student body is integrated into various public schools in Gainesville.

African American Studies program established in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

1970Stephan P. Mickle second African American to graduate from UF Law School.

Black Law Student Association (BLSA) established at UF and named after W. George Allen – first African American graduate of UF Law School.

Hazel Land becomes the first African American woman to enroll at the UF College of Law; first African American female graduate in 1973.

Dr. Henry Earl Cotman and Dr. Reuben Earl Brigetry become the first African-American graduates of the UF College of Medicine.

UF faculty and staff become integrated when seven African-Americans become faculty and one becomes an administrator.

1971Stephan P. Mickle joins the faculty

of the College of Law as an Assistant Professor.

African-American students stage a sit-in at President O’Connell’s office to protest policies regarding minorities. Sixty-six students are suspended and arrested on O’Connell’s orders.

“Black Thursday” protest: when O’Connell does not yield to BSU demands for amnesty for the suspended students, approximately one-third of UF’s African American students and several faculty members leave the university.

Neil Butler elected mayor of Gainesville, the first African American mayor since Josiah Walls served during the Reconstruction period (summer of 1873).

An increase in the number of minorities at UF Law School is made possible through the federally-funded Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO).

1972Stephan P. Mickle becomes the first African-American to establish a law practice in Gainesville, Florida and continues to teach at the law school, part-time.

Institute of Black Culture (IBC) established and dedicated.

Kappa Alpha Psi establishes the first historically African American Greek-letter undergraduate fraternity chapter on UF campus.

1973Cynthia Mays is elected UF’s first African American Miss Homecoming.

President O’Connell announces his retirement from the University of Florida.

1965Stephan P. Mickle is the first African American to earn an undergraduate degree from UF (political science).

Center for African Studies established at UF.

Malcolm X is assassinated.

Passage of the Voting Rights Act.

1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 19751965 1974

1977Virgil Hawkins admitted to Florida Bar and begins his law practice, 27 years after he first applied for admission to UF Law School.

Aaron Green becomes the third African American mayor of Gainesville.

1979Stephan P. Mickle becomes the first African American county judge in Alachua County.

1980The Black Honor Society, Beta Eta Sigma, founded on UF campus.

1984 Stephan P. Mickle becomes the first African American Circuit judge in the Eighth Circuit.

The Office of Graduate Minority Programs at UF is established by the Graduate School.

1985Virgil Hawkins is brought before the Florida Bar on ethics charges. Unable to afford a lawyer, he resigns from the Florida Bar.

The Honorable Stephan P. Mickle is recognized

today by the Center for the Study of Race &

Race Relations, University of Florida, Levin

College of Law for his notable leadership, his

outstanding accomplishments in law and his

dedicated service to the community. A man

of determination, he was the first African

American to earn a bachelor’s degree from

the University of Florida, the first to become

a judge in the 8th Judicial Circuit of Florida

and the first to serve as a federal judge in the

Northern District of Florida.

Mickle earned his Bachelor of Arts degree

in 1965, his Master of Education degree in

1966 and his Juris Doctor degree in 1970

—all from the University of Florida. Upon

graduation, he established a legal practice

and began serving as an adjunct professor of

law at the University of Florida, a position

he still holds.

Beginning in 1979, Mickle served five

years on the Florida County Court in Alachua

County and eight years on the Florida Circuit

Court, Eighth Judicial Circuit in Gainesville. In

1993, he began serving on the First District

Court of Appeal in Tallahassee. In 1998, he

was confirmed by the United State Senate

as United States Judge, U. S. District Court,

Northern District of Florida.

Mickle has served as a member of the

Board of Governors of the Young Lawyers Section,

Florida Bar; Chairman of the Eighth Judicial

Grievance Committee (a member of the

committee for three years); and a board member

for the Conference of County Court Judges

of Florida. He is a member of the American

Inns of Court, the Tallahassee Barristers

Association, The American Law Institute, and

the Florida Bar. In addition, he is a member

of the Eighth Judicial Circuit Bar, the National

Bar and the American Bar Associations.

Mickle has served twelve years on the

Board of Directors of the University of Florida

National Alumni Association and currently

serves on Board of Trustees of the University of

Florida Law Center Association (Emeritus).

He was the first African-American to

receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award from

the University of Florida at its commencement

exercises in May, 1999.

His accomplishments have been

recognized with the Conference of County

Court Judges’ Distinguished Leadership Award,

the Florida State Voter’s League’s Award for

Accomplishments in Law, the University of

Florida Black Alumni Association’s “Man

of the Year” Award and the Florida Chapter

of the National Bar Association’s Award for

Exemplary Service. He has received the

Black American Law Student Association’s

Outstanding University of Florida Alumnus

Award and has been granted honorary

membership in Florida Blue Key.

He and his wife, Evelyn, also an alumnus

of the University of Florida (class of 1967),

live in Gainesville, Florida. They have two

daughters, Stephanie and Amy Grace, a son,

Stephan, II and a son/nephew Cotie.

1986Pamela Bingham becomes the first African American female elected UF Student Government President.

1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986

Lifetime Achievements: Judge Stephan P. Mickle

1988Virgil Hawkins dies at the age of 81. He is posthumously reinstated to the Florida Bar.

1989The Virgil Hawkins Clinic at Levin College of Law named in memory of Virgil Darnell Hawkins, a crusader for civil rights.

1990 Law student Jerry Hamilton becomes the first African American president of the UF College of Law, John Marshall Bar Association.

Leander Shaw becomes the first African American to serve as Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court.

1991Clarence Thomas is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court; second African American man to serve on the high court following Thurgood Marshall’s retirement from the Court.

BAM! (Black Awareness Movement) takes place, a peaceful protest and takeover of Student Government over the allocation of Black History Month funds.

1992Corrine Brown, Alcee Hastings, and Carrie Meek become the first African Americans since Josiah Walls (1870s) to represent Florida in the U.S. Congress.

1993Stephan P. Mickle becomes the first African American (and only lawyer) from the Eighth Judicial Circuit appointed to the First District Court of Appeals.

1994Florida legislature awards compensation to the victims of the 1923 Rosewood, FL massacre.

The first “Umoja Graduation Celebration” is held, an event created by the UF BSU to honor UF’s graduating African American students.

19951988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 199719961987

graduated

1998Stephan P. Mickle becomes the first African American federal judge of the Northern District of Florida. He was nominated by President Clinton and unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate.

The Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations is created at UF Levin College of Law. First Director, Rahim Reed.

1999Stephan P. Mickle becomes the first African American UF graduate to receive the University of Florida Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Professor Kenneth Nunn is appointed Associate Dean for Law Center Affairs at UF College of Law.

2000Largest graduating class of African-American law students—57 out of 70 minority graduates—in the history of University of Florida Law School.

Associate Dean Kenneth Nunn resigns deanship in protest over the Law School’s lack of faculty diversity.

Members of the UF Law School’s Moot Court Team found to have exchanged notes containing racial slurs and obscene remarks about students trying out for the organization.

Presidential election crisis. State of Florida is at the center of it and reports of voting rights violations emerge. This leads the NAACP to sue the state (NAACP v. Harris) and to a U.S. Supreme Court case, Bush v. Gore.

Florida Board of Regents approves the implementation of One Florida. Governor Jeb Bush’s plan ends race and gender preferences in college admissions in the state of Florida.

2001UF faculty awards first posthumous degree in 150 years to Virgil Hawkins with unanimous consent of Faculty, Senate, and Board of Regents.

Student leaders present UF President Charles Young with a list of recommendations to make UF more accepting of diversity.

UF “Rally Against Hate” takes place, in which over 300 students, faculty and staff participate.

2003In Virginia v. Black, the United States Supreme Court rules that burning a cross at a Klan rally is protected by the First Amendment, but it can be a criminal offense if the intent is to intimidate, and not to promote “shared ideology.”

African Americans at the University of Florida, by Betty Stewart-Dowdell and Kevin McCarthy is published.

In Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger, U.S. Supreme Court rules against race as a determining factor in admissions to the University of Michigan.

Katheryn Russell-Brown appointed Professor and Director, Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations.

Dr. James Bernard Machen is elected the 11th president of the University of Florida.

2005The Independent Florida Alligator newspaper prints a cartoon featuring Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice using the n-word towards rapper Kanye West. Backlash endured for weeks on the UF campus, eventually garnering an apology from the paper.

Hurricane Katrina.

2008Stephan P. Mickle celebrates ten years on the Federal bench.

2006 20071998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2008

UNIVERSITY of FLORIDA

CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF RACE

AND RACE RELATIONS

Mission Statement The University of Florida Center for the

Study of Race and race Relations (CSRRR) is

committed to de-stigmatizing race in America.

With the objective of fostering communities of

dialogue, the Center embraces historically and

empirically based thinking, talking, teaching,

and writing on race. To this end, the Center

creates and supports programs designed to

enhance race-related curriculum development

for faculty, staff and students in collegiate

and professional schools. Of the five U.S.

law schools with race centers, the CSRRR is

uniquely focused on curriculum development.

VisionThe Center for the Study of Race and Race

Relations (CSRRR) is an academic research

and resource center. The Center’s mission will

be met through the work of various groups

engaged in a wide range of activities. This

work includes:

• Producing, supporting, and highlighting

race-related scholarship within and beyond

the UF community;

• Gathering, analyzing, and sharing historical

and contemporary knowledge about race

and race relations;

• Developing and supporting—through

teaching, research, writing, and

workshops—race-related curricula for

collegiate and professional schools;

• Fostering non-stigmatizing ways of

discussing issues of race and ethnicity,

including African Americans, Latino/as,

American Indians, Asian Americans, and

Whites.

InvitationPlease join us in our efforts

to identify and address the

many difficult but important

race-related issues.

We look forward to

working with you. We

welcome your questions and

comments at

csrrr@law.ufl.edu.

About the: Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations