George Williamson Crawford

George Williamson Crawford (October 21, 1877 – August 1, 1972) was a lawyer, public servant and an activist for African-American civil rights in New Haven, Connecticut.

Biography

Crawford was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and attended Tuskegee Institute and Talladega College, both historically black colleges.^[1] In 1903, Crawford graduated from the Yale University Law School.^[2] While at Yale, Crawford received the Townsend Prize awarded to the best orator at the law school, a prestigious award.^[3] The award, which included a prize of $100, was given for a speech titled, "Trades, Unionism and Patriotism."^[4] He was appointed clerk of the Probate Court of New Haven immediately upon graduation in 1903.^[5]

From 1907 until the 1950s, Crawford worked in private practice in New Haven.^[2] He was particularly recognized for a high-profile case in which he won the acquittals of thirteen defendants (all white), political leaders of Waterbury, Connecticut who had been charged with criminal breach of the public trust.^[2] From 1954 to 1962 he served as corporation counsel for the City of New Haven.^[1]

Crawford was also active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and was one of the founders of the Greater New Haven branch of the organization.^[6] He was also an outspoken freemason; he wrote a book on Prince Hall and black freemasonry.^[7] At the end of his life, Crawford was recognized as a pioneering black lawyer and civic leader. Roy Wilkins, then executive director of the NAACP, said at a 1966 ceremony dedicating George Crawford Manor, a high-rise residential building for the elderly in New Haven, "It is difficult for a colored man to rise above differences, mistreatments, and inequalities to reach a place such as George Crawford has. He brought all the qualities that make up the American Dream. He served his community—not colored or white—but the whole community."^[8] The George W. Crawford Black Bar Association, an organization of black lawyers in Connecticut, was named in his honor.^[1]