Wiley A. Branton (1923-1988) was a lawyer and civil rights activist. With Thurgood Marshall, Branton served as counsel to the “Little Rock Nine,” the group of African American students who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957, when school board members and the Superintendent of Schools sued to suspend the school district’s integration plan. Later, Branton directed the Voter Education Project in Atlanta, where, under his leadership, more than 600,000 black voters registered to vote between 1962 and 1965. Branton was named dean of Howard University’s School of Law in 1977.

Image courtesy of Vanderbilt University Special Collections and University Archives.