Debo P. Adegbile ’91 discusses the legacy of civil rights icon John Lewis

Joining Harvard Law professor Noah Feldman on his podcast Deep Background, Debo Adegbile ’91 spoke about the late congressman John Lewis and his lifetime of fighting for civil rights. 

Adegbile, a partner at WilmerHale law firm who previously worked for the NAACP and twice defended the Voting Rights Act before the United States Supreme Court, was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the United States Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) in 2016. 

Feldman, who also writes a column for Bloomberg View, was the keynote speaker at Conn’s 96th Commencement in 2014. 

On the podcast, Adegbile emphasized Lewis’s courage and determination in paying tribute to the civil rights icon’s long and storied career. 

“When I think of John Lewis, I think first of his exhortation to his fellow Americans that you have to be prepared to put yourself in the way to achieve justice,” Adegbile said. “He was literally somebody who, from the time he was a teenager until his final days, was prepared to advance the cause of the disenfranchised by putting himself on the frontlines of the public conversation, demonstrations and issues of the day. He was fearless.”

Read the statement about John Lewis that Adegbile prepared and sponsored at the USCCR.