William Douglas Arant

William Douglas Arant (May 19, 1897 - October 1987) [Alabama State Bar. [http://www.alabar.org/members/hallfame/arant.cfm Members : William Douglas Arant] . Retrieved September 2 2007] is a well-known Birmingham attorney.

He was born on a small farm in Waverly, Lee County, Alabama. He was the son of William Jackson and Emma Baker Arant. The Arants were French Huguenots, coming to Orange County, South Carolina, and thence migrating to several states. The Alabama Arants settled in central Alabama early in the 19th century. Douglas Arant’s father was a staunch and upright man, born in rural Alabama and endowed with the virtues of his ancestry and the farming community. He had to work hard all his life, and spent a great deal of it caring for his family. A burden lightened by his incredible sense of humor.

He finished High School in three years (1914) and then received a scholarship given by General and Mrs. R. D. Johnston. He then enrolled at the University of Virginia. At Virginia he studied and worked at any job he could find, he waited tables, and one term worked in the Observatory measuring the parallax of fixed stars. He would go in three nights a week at mid night, work until daybreak, and then attend his classes without any rest. In May 1918 his studies were interrupted by the war. He went to Atlanta hoping to enlist as a Navy flier, but his eyesight was poor, and so he settled for the army. He was sent to Ft. Oglethorpe where he was enrolled in a regular army cavalry unit, then sent to a ranch in Texas and to Camp Clark, where he, as the only one in his battery who could read and write, was made Clerk. By the time he’d left the military, he had attended Officers Candidate Training School at Camp Taylor, Kentucky, and was commissioned second lieutenant (1919).

A year later he received both bachelor of science and master of science degrees from the University of Virginia, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1923 he received his law degree, magna cum laude at Yale University, where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal, and was instructor of political science during the summer terms. In addition to his academic degrees, he received honor doctoral degrees from the University of Alabama, Birmingham-southern College and Rhodes College. He was admitted to the Alabama Bar in 1923 and in 1927 he joined the firm of Tilman, Bradley and Baldwin, now Bradley, Arant, Rose and White.

Law for Mr. Arant was a profession with responsibilities that stretched far beyond day-to-day casework. He had a lifelong commitment to pro bono service, a personal concern for the encouragement and growth of young lawyers, and a deep commitment to social justice.

Between 1933 and 1945, Mr. Arant served as either counsel to, or a member of, a number of agencies. He became special assistant to the United States Attorney General and chief counsel for the Petroleum Administration Board, National Recovery Administration, Washington, D.C. in 1933. The next year he served as chairman of the Regional Labor Board, Sixth District, National Recovery Administration, and in 1942 was the public member for the Fourth Regional Labor Board in Atlanta. Mr. Arant was also a member of the Board of Appeals, District Two, Alabama Selective Service System from 1940 to 1945.

His professional interest included memberships in the American Bar Association, and its Committee on Bill of Rights of which he was chairman the term 1941-1943; Alabama State Bar Association of which he was president in 1936 and a member of the Board of commissioners from 1931 to 1940; he was also a member of the Birmingham Bar Association, the American Law Institute, and a member of the Bar Association, City of New York. He was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa, Beta Theta Pi, Phi Delta Phi and the Order of the Coif. During his tenure as president of the Alabama State Bar, Mr. Arant urged the formation of a Junior Bar Association as a means of bringing together younger lawyers from all over the state to focus on professional issues of significant interest to them. As a result of his efforts, the Alabama State Junior Bar became a reality in 1937. Mr. Arant thereafter regularly attended meetings of the Junior Bar and came to know many of the young lawyers throughout the state. That Junior Bar is now the Young Lawyers Section of the Alabama State Bar. Mr. Arant’s concern for justice for all was apparent in his role as an organize of the Legal Aid Society of Birmingham, which he served as president. He was also an active, long time member of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church and the Democratic party.

In the early 1950s, he sponsored the first African-American attorney for membership in the Birmingham Bar Association – Oscar Adams, who later became a justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. He was a behind-the-scenes leader for positive change in Birmingham in the troubled 1960s.

True to his philosophy of community enrichment, he served as president of the Birmingham Civic Symphony Association and the Birmingham Civic Opera Association, as a foundation trustee of Brooke Hill School and the eye Foundation, and as a member of the board of directors for Norton Center and Birmingham-Southern College.

He was married to the former Letitia Tyler McNeal on December 31, 1929 and they had three daughters: Adele (Mrs. Richard J. Stockman, Jr.), Letitia Christian and Frances Fairlie. His grandchildren include Richard J. Stockham, III (married to Connie Ray), Douglas Arant Stockham (married to Angela Browder), Adele Arant Culp & David Tyler Maginnes.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* http://www.alabar.org/members/hallfame/arant.cfm\
* "Untitled" -- unpublished speech given by Douglas'sister at his 79th birthday party .
* "William Douglas Arant" -- unpublished speech given to honor Mr. Arant's induction into the Birmingham Business Hall of Fame
* LPR194 - Alabama Department of Archives and History
* Congressional Record__ Senate - November 30, 1987 (S16734)