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 soon found law school an unmitigated bore.

Lack of encouragement never deterred me. I was the kind of person who would not be put down.

Too many whites still see blacks as a group apart.

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 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.

The last state to admit a black student to the college level was South Carolina