William Stringfellow (1929-1985) was a lawyer, an Episcopal lay theologian, and a social activist. In his junior year at Bates College in Lewisburg, Maine, he organized a sit-in at a restaurant that refused to serve people of color. After his graduation from Harvard Law School, he moved to Harlem to work with poor African Americans and Hispanics. He defended victimized tenants, poor persons who were victims of social exclusion, and people whom few others would defend, such as sexual offenders. He protested the Vietnam War, was involved in the Sojourners movement in Washington, D.C., and sheltered Daniel Berrigan, S.J., when Berrigan was on the run from federal authorities. His theology is controversial and widely discussed.  Bates College began awarding the William Stringfellow Award in 2000 to recognize one student and one member of the local community for their work in peace and justice in Maine.