Martha Bergmark

Last updated
Bergmark receiving 2011 Obama White House Champions of Change award Martha Bergmark White House Champions of Change.jpg
Bergmark receiving 2011 Obama White House Champions of Change award

Martha Jane Bergmark is an attorney, civil rights advocate, and writer from Mississippi. [1] [2] Bergmark is best known for her work promoting civil justice through civil legal aid organizations at the local, state, and national level. [3] Currently, Bergmark is executive director of Voices for Civil Justice. [4] In 1978, she co-founded the Southeast Mississippi Legal Services to provide federally funded legal aid services in a nine county area. [5] [6]

Contents

In the late 1980s, she served as the civil division director and then as senior vice president for programs of the Washington DC–based National Legal Aid and Defender Association. She held the position of president of the Legal Services Corporation which advocates for and administers federal funding for legal aid programs throughout the United States. [6] In 2003, she moved back to Mississippi and co-found the Mississippi Center for Justice. [5] Bergmark was recognized as a "Champion of Change" by United States President Obama's White House in 2011 for her work to advance racial and economic justice. [5] [7]

Early life, education, and family

Martha Jane Bergmark is the daughter of Robert Bergmark, a Methodist minister, and Carol (Comstock) Bergmark, a choir director. [8] In 1953, her family moved to Jackson, Mississippi for her father to become a professor of philosophy at Millsaps College. Bergmak grew up in a traditional middle class community in Jackson where racial segregation between blacks and white residents was common and enforced through Jim Crow era laws. [2] By the time she was in high school, her parents and her were involved at the local level with the civil rights movement and new federal social service programs to help promote economic advances for African Americans. During the summers, she traveled to Tougaloo, Mississippi to work with under privileged African American children—the first summer as an unpaid volunteer aide for the Head Start Program, and the next two summers as a paid teacher's aide in the initial years of the Upward Bound program. [2] The high school that she attended, Murrah High School, was racially integrated while she was student. Bergmark's decision to volunteer as an orientation counselor for incoming black students revealed for the first time to her friends and teachers her affinity to African Americans. [6] Her experience during her high school years motivated her towards her career of working to advance racial and economic justice. [2] [9] Bergmark excelled academically in high school and was named a U.S. Presidential Schola r in 1966 for the State of Mississippi. [10]

Bergmark earned a degree from Oberlin College. [7] [11] She obtained a Juris Doctor degree from University of Michigan Law School in 1973. [5] [7] While in law school Bergmark participated in the first law school clinic at the University of Michigan. [5] As a law student, Bergmark worked as a Reginald Heber Smith Fellow at North Mississippi Rural Legal Services, Mississippi's first civil legal aid organization, and the Community Legal Services. [6]

Bergmark met Elliott Andalman, her future husband, while in law school. They have two sons, Aaron Samuel Andalman and David Andalman. [6] [12] Her son, David Andalman, wrote and co-directed American Milkshake , which was selected for the Sundance Film Festival in 2013. The low budget independent comedy about race, class and basketball in 1990s was produced out of Bergmark's family house on Montgomery Avenue in Takoma Park, Maryland. [13]

Career

Early years in Mississippi

In 1973, after Bergmark graduated from law school, she returned to Michigan to established a civil rights and poverty law practice. [5] [14] [6] With her husband and two other graduates from the University of Michigan Law School, Michael Adelman and Allison Steiner, Bergmark established a "legal collective" in Hattiesburg, Mississippi that offered both civil and criminal legal service. [5] [14] [6] In 1978, when federal funds were enlarged by United States President Jimmy Carter's administration, she left the law practice to found the Southeast Mississippi Legal Services in a nine county area. [5] [6] Bergmark was the organizations founding executive director. [6]

Early years in Washington, DC

In 1987, Bergmark relocated to Washington DC where she was civil division director and then as senior vice president for programs of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association. Bergmark was the director of Project for the Future of Equal Justice. [5] Later, she was the executive vice president and president of the Legal Services Corporation which advocates for and administers federal funding for legal aid programs throughout the United States. [6]

Mississippi Center for Justice

In 2003, Bergmark moved back to Mississippi and co-found the Mississippi Center for Justice with funding granted as a Stern Family Fund's Public Interest Pioneer. [5] [11] She was the founding president/CEO of the Center until 2013. [7]

Voices for Civil Justice

In 2013, the US Public Welfare Foundation established Voices for Civil Justice to better communicate to the public the positive role that civil legal plays in improving the social, economic, and health status of impoverished and marginalized people. [4] Bergmark is the founding executive director of Voices for Civil Justice. [1] [15]

Honors

Bergmark is a former Reginald Heber Smith Fellow and the 1990 recipient of the Kutak-Dodds Prize for her civil rights and legal aid work. [11] She was the 2010 recipient of the American Bar Association Section of Litigation's John Minor Wisdom Public Service and Professionalism Award. [7] Bergmark was recognized as a "Champion of Change" by United States President Obama's White House in 2011 for her work to advance racial and economic justice. [5] [7] Bergmark was awarded an honorary doctorate of public service from Millsaps College [7] and an honorary doctorate from Oberlin College in 2012. [16] Bergmark is a 2018 Presidential Scholars Roosevelt “Rosey” Thompson awardee. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Wald</span> American judge (1928–2019)

Patricia Ann McGowan Wald was an American lawyer and jurist who served as the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1986 until 1991. She was the Court's first female chief judge and its first woman to be elevated, having been appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. From 1999 to 2001, Wald was a Justice of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund</span> Organization in New York, United States

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is an American civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Church Terrell</span> African-American educator and activist (1863–1954)

Mary Terrell was an American civil rights activist, journalist, teacher and one of the first African-American women to earn a college degree. She taught in the Latin Department at the M Street School —the first African American public high school in the nation—in Washington, DC. In 1895, she was the first African-American woman in the United States to be appointed to the school board of a major city, serving in the District of Columbia until 1906. Terrell was a charter member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (1909) and the Colored Women's League of Washington (1892). She helped found the National Association of Colored Women (1896) and served as its first national president, and she was a founding member of the National Association of College Women (1923).

Lawrence Guyot Jr. was an American civil rights activist and the director of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presidential Scholars Program</span> American educational honor

The United States Presidential Scholars Program is a program of the United States Department of Education. It is described as "one of the nation's highest honors for high school students" in the United States of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legal Services Corporation</span> US non-profit legal-aid company

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is a publicly funded, 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation established by the United States Congress. It seeks to ensure equal access to justice under the law for all Americans by providing funding for civil legal aid to those who otherwise would be unable to afford it. The LSC was created in 1974 with bipartisan congressional sponsorship and the support of the Nixon administration, and LSC is funded through the congressional appropriations process.

The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, or simply the Lawyers' Committee, is an American civil rights organization founded in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Minow</span> American legal scholar

Martha Louise Minow is an American legal scholar and the 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard University. She served as the 12th Dean of Harvard Law School between 2009 and 2017 and has taught at the Law School since 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erwin Griswold</span> American lawyer (1904–1994)

Erwin Nathaniel Griswold was an American appellate attorney and legal scholar who argued many cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Griswold served as Solicitor General of the United States (1967–1973) under Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon. He also served as the dean of Harvard Law School for 21 years. Several times he was considered for appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. During a career that spanned more than six decades, he served as member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and as president of the American Bar Foundation.

Penda D. Hair is an American lawyer. She is the Legal Director of Forward Justice, a law, policy, and strategy center dedicated to advancing racial, social, and economic justice in the U.S. South. A frequent television and radio commentator, she speaks regularly on issues of race and democracy. Previously, she was a founding co-director of the civil rights group Advancement Project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Camper Cahn</span> American lawyer

Jean Camper Cahn was an American lawyer and social activist who helped establish federal financing of legal services to the poor. Cahn was the first director of the National Legal Services Program in the O.E.O. and later founded the Urban Law Institute at George Washington University. In 1971, she co-founded the Antioch School of Law with her husband and law associate Edgar S. Cahn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacqueline A. Berrien</span> American civil rights attorney and government official

Jacqueline Ann Berrien, often known as Jackie Berrien, was an American civil rights attorney and government official. From 2009 to 2014, Berrien served as chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) under President Barack Obama. Prior to this, Berrien had served as Associate Director Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in law</span> Involvement of women in the study and practice of law

Women in law describes the role played by women in the legal profession and related occupations, which includes lawyers, paralegals, prosecutors, judges, legal scholars, law professors and law school deans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Virginia Legal Aid Society</span>

The Central Virginia Legal Aid Society (CVLAS) is a nonprofit organization that provides free legal assistance in civil matters to low-income and elderly residents in central Virginia.

Jean Emily Fairfax was an American educator, civil rights worker, community organizer, and philanthropist whose efforts have focused on achieving equity in education, especially for poor African Americans. She served as Director of Community Services of the NAACP from 1965 to 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janai Nelson</span> American lawyer

Janai Nelson is an American lawyer, who currently serves as the President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Romero</span> American sociologist

Mary Romero is an American sociologist. She is Professor of Justice Studies and Social Inquiry at Arizona State University, with affiliations in African and African American Studies, Women and Gender Studies, and Asian Pacific American Studies. Before her arrival at ASU in 1995, she taught at University of Oregon, San Francisco State University, and University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Professor Romero holds a bachelor's degree in sociology with a minor in Spanish from Regis College in Denver, Colorado. She holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Colorado. In 2019, she served as the 110th President of the American Sociological Association.

Deborah N. Archer is an American civil rights lawyer and law professor. She is the Jacob K. Javits Professor at New York University and professor of clinical law at New York University School of Law. She also directs the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law and the Civil Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law. In January 2021, she was elected president of the American Civil Liberties Union, becoming the first African American to hold the position in the organization’s history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thelma Stevens</span> American religious and civil rights leader

Thelma Stevens (1902–1990) was a Methodist advocate for social and racial justice. From a young age, she dedicated herself to studying and working in favor of integration and racial equality in the United States. From her early career as a teacher in rural Mississippi, to her position as Director of the Bethlehem Center in Augusta, Georgia, to her work in the Woman's Division of The Methodist Church, Stevens contributed to the Civil Rights Movement.

Margaret L. Huang is an American human rights and racial justice advocate, and president and chief executive officer of Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an American civil rights nonprofit. She joined the organization in April 2020, taking over a position held for several decades by founder Morris Dees.

References

  1. 1 2 "Martha Bergmark | HuffPost". www.huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Yates, Gayle Graham (1990). Mississippi Mind: A Personal Cultural History of an American State. Univ. of Tennessee Press. p. 45. ISBN   9780870496431.
  3. ↑ "U-M law school graduate earns White House award > Jackson County Legal News". legalnews.com. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
  4. 1 2 Flynn, Asher; Hodgson, Jacqueline (2017-01-26). Access to Justice and Legal Aid: Comparative Perspectives on Unmet Legal Need. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 234. ISBN   9781509900862.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Martha Bergmark honored as Champion of Change". www.law.umich.edu. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Four Decades in Civil Legal Aid – an Interview with Martha Bergmark – Voices for Civil Justice". voicesforciviljustice.org. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Martha Bergmark". The White House. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  8. ↑ "Carol Bergmark's Obituary on Clarion Ledger". Clarion Ledger. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  9. ↑ McIver, Harrison (July 28, 1992). "Oral history interview with Martha Bergmark" (PDF). repository.library.georgetown.edu (Oral history interview). Oral history collection, NEJL, Georgetown Law Library: National Equal Justice Library Oral History Project. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
  10. ↑ "50 Years of Presidential Scholars: In Pursuit of Excellence". Profile: Martha Bergmark by Craig Collins. United States Presidential Scholars Alumni Association. 2014. p. 102. Retrieved 2018-01-07– via issuu.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. 1 2 3 "Staff | Mississippi Center for Justice". mscenterforjustice.org. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  12. ↑ Schwartz, Paula (2010-07-02). "Wrenn Levenberg and Aaron Andalman". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2018-01-07.
  13. ↑ Hendrix, Steve (2013-09-03). "Movie 'American Milkshake,' made in Takoma Park, gives residents a taste of stardom". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  14. 1 2 Dement, Polly (2014-06-17). Mississippi Entrepreneurs. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN   9781626741232.
  15. ↑ "Raising our Voices for Civil Justice | Division for Legal Services | Standing Committee / Pro Bono and Public Service". www.americanbar.org. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
  16. ↑ "Around Tappan Square / Oberlin Alumni Magazine / Summer 2012". www2.oberlin.edu. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
  17. ↑ "Events". Presidential Scholars Foundation. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.