William J. Durham

William J. Durham (1896 - 1970) was a resident of Sherman, Texas for much of his life. He was notable as an African-American attorney and leader in the civil rights movement.

Born near Sulphur Springs, Texas, he attended Emporia State University in Kansas. After serving in World War I, he moved to Sherman where he studied law in the office of a white attorney, Benjamin F. Gafford. Durham began practicing law in 1926 and, after a race riot in Sherman in May 1930, he spent the rest of his life fighting for equal rights for blacks in Texas.

He became a leader in the Texas NAACP and served as the attorney in more than forty civil rights cases that sought to end segregation throughout Texas. His most famous case was Sweatt v. Painter (1950) which resulted in the integration of the University of Texas School of Law. Durham and Thurgood Marshall worked closely in crafting this case from quarters in the Durham family home in Sherman. Durham eventually moved his practice to Dallas, Texas.

References

*Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629 (1950)