DeKalb Times

Northern Illinois University College of Law recently issued the following announcement.

Sponsored by the College of Law Black Lawyer Student Association and the American Constitution Society.

From his perspective as a long-time civil rights lawyer and advocate, Mr. McConkie will discuss legal and social justice strategies to dismantle systemic racism and remedy the vestiges of discrimination and segregation on the basis of race. He will particularly focus on efforts to identify, address and eliminate continuing policies and practices that foster discrimination on the basis of race, or which perpetuate the inequities of segregation, especially in education. Mr. McConkie will also shed light on the practice of civil rights law and advocacy in the non-profit, public-interest sector and unique partnerships established with private-sector law firms, community organizations and advocacy groups.

Background of the Speaker:

Mr. McConkie is a civil rights attorney and the founder and director of the Robert M. Bell Center for Civil Rights in Education, established at Morgan State University in Baltimore to unite research, teaching, training and advocacy on integral civil rights issues in education at all levels, particularly with respect to African American and other minority students seeking real and meaningful opportunities for educational excellence and advancement.

In 1998, Mr. McConkie was appointed by the Attorney General of Maryland to serve as Assistant Attorney General and Principal Counsel to the Maryland Higher Education Commission. Prior to his appointment with the State of Maryland, Mr. McConkie was an attorney with the National Litigation Project of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in the provision of legal services to victims of racial discrimination.

For several years, Mr. McConkie served as Assistant General Counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at its national headquarters in Baltimore. He was honored as NAACP Attorney of the Year at its 1994 national convention in Chicago.

Mr. McConkie obtained a Juris Doctorate degree with special emphasis in Race, Racism and American Law from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Original source can be found here.