I got the chance to argue my first case in Supreme Court, a criminal case arising in Alabama that involved the right of a defendant to counsel at a critical stage in a capital case before a trial.

I never thought I would live long enough to see the legal profession change to the extent it has.

In high school, I won a prize for an essay on tuberculosis. When I got through writing the essay, I was sure I had the disease.

I soon found law school an unmitigated bore.

A Negro who does not vote is ungrateful to those who have already died in the fight for freedom. ... Any person who does not vote is failing to serve the cause of freedom - his own freedom, his people's freedom, and his country's freedom.

There is no longer a single common impediment to blacks emerging in this society.

New Orleans may well have been the most liberal Deep South city in 1954 because of its large Creole population, the influence of the French, and its cosmopolitan atmosphere.