Donald Lee Hollowell
| Donald Lee Hollowell | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
December 19, 1917 Wichita, Kansas |
| Died | 27 December 2004 (aged 87) Atlanta, Georgia |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Movement | Civil Rights Movement |
Donald Lee Hollowell (December 19, 1917 – December 27, 2004) was an American civil rights attorney during the Civil Rights Movement, in the state of Georgia. He successfully sued to integrate Atlanta's public schools, Georgia colleges, universities and public transit, freed Martin Luther King, Jr. from prison, and mentored civil rights attorneys (including Vernon Jordan and Horace Ward). First black regional director of a federal agency (the EEOC), Hollowell is best remembered for his instrumental role in winning the desegregation of the University of Georgia in 1961. He is the subject of a 2010 documentary film, Donald L. Hollowell: Foot Soldier for Equal Justice.
Donald Hollowell was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, and earned a high school diploma while serving six years in the U.S. Army's 10th Cavalry Regiment (the original Buffalo Soldier regiment). Although in Kansas, Hollowell did not encounter the racist Jim Crow laws of the South, he faced blatant racism and discrimination while serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. Hollowell recounted that “army officials relegated him to eating in the kitchen, sleeping in quarters adjacent to prisoners, and patronizing Jim Crow canteens.” Hollowell’s experiences with racial segregation and discrimination and his involvement with the Southern Negro Youth Congress after the war inspired him to pursue the study of law to help in the fight for social justice. In 1947, Hollowell graduated magna cum laude from Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee, and he earned his law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 1951.
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