SHREVEPORT, La. ( KTAL/KMSS ) – Clarence Alvert Laws is among the many unsung forces for justice in Texas and Louisiana during the tumultuous civil rights era.
The most vocal figures of the Civil Rights movement are more widely known, but it’s important to recognize and appreciate the contributions and sacrifices of less-known activists. That’s how we tell the whole story of the movement.
Clarence Alvert Laws’s triumphant tale is one of many that the Caddo Parish Civil Rights Trail aims to tell.
This is his story.
Background information about Law
Born in Opelousas, Louisiana, Laws earned his Bachelor’s degree from Dillard University in 1932. After serving in World War II and the Korean War, Laws joined the New Orleans branch of the Urban League, and after that stint he became the field director of the NAACP’s Southwestern region. During that time, Laws became a central yet virtually uncovered civil figure within the Civil Rights Movement.