UMKC Division of Diversity Access and Equity presents their third annual UMKC Rosa Parks Keynote Address by Morris Dees, Legendary Civil Rights Activist and Co-Founder and Chief Counsel of the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Keynote is November 17 at 6:00pm in Pierson Auditorium. This event is free and open to the public, but online registration is requested. Visit www.umkc.edu/diversity or call (816) 235-6704 for more information.

In 1967, lawyer Morris Dees had achieved extraordinary business and financial success with his book publishing company. The son of an Alabama farmer, he witnessed firsthand the painful consequences of prejudice and racial injustice. He sympathized with the Civil Rights Movement but had not become actively involved. A night of soul searching at a snowed-in Cincinnati airport changed his life, inspiring Dees to leave his safe, business-as-usual world and undertake a new mission. “I had made up my mind. I would sell the company as soon as possible and specialize in civil rights law,” Dees said. “All the things in my life that had brought me to this point, all the pulls and tugs of my conscience, found a singular peace. It did not matter what my neighbors would think, or the judges, the bankers, or even my relatives.”

Out of this deeply personal moment grew the Southern Poverty Law Center. After his epiphany in 1967, Dees began taking controversial cases that were highly unpopular in the white community. As he continued to pursue equal opportunities for minorities and the poor, Dees and his law partner Joseph J. Levin, Jr. saw the need for a non-profit organization dedicated to seeking justice. In 1971, the two layers and civil rights activist Julian Bond founded the Southern Poverty Law Center.