Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > Hayes, George E. C.

George E. C. Hayes was an attorney and CIVIL RIGHTS activist, and a member of the team of lawyers who argued the landmark SCHOOL DESEGREGATION cases before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954.

Hayes was born July 1, 1894, in Richmond, and lived most of his life in Washington, D.C., where he attended public schools. He graduated from Brown University, in Providence, in 1915 and received his law degree from Howard University in 1918. While at Howard, he attained one of the highest academic averages on record there.

Hayes's involvement in the burgeoning CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT began in the 1940s. As a member of the District of Columbia Board of Education from 1945 to 1949, he worked to desegregate the...