The New Orleans Legends & Contemporaries Civil Rights Panel

Please join the Office of Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion, Office of Multicultural Affairs, and the Spring is King Planning Committee for the New Orleans Civil Rights Legends and Contemporaries Panel on March 18th 12-1:30pm featuring: 

Judge Edwin Lombard

He was among the first African Americans admitted to Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he was a Rockefeller Scholar and earned his B.A. in 1967. Lombard attended Southern University Law School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and received his J.D. degree from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, where he was a Roosevelt Fellow, in 1970. He also attended the New York University School of Law Institute for Appellate Judges.

Pearlie Elloie, MSW

Pearlie Hardin Elloie was a 1960 magna cum laude Dillard graduate. Tulane was a segregated institution until Pearlie Elloie, alongside Dr. Barbara Guillory Thomas, a fellow Dillard graduate, sought to integrate Tulane. The two Dillard alumnae were hand-picked to be involved in a 1961 lawsuit that led to the integration of Tulane. Once the lawsuit was won, the trailblazers enrolled. Ms. Elloie received a Master’s in Social Work from Tulane. Elloie served as the director of the Office of Children, Youth, and Families at Total Community Action before directing her own HeadStart Center, providing quality early childhood development care. 

Malik Rahim

Malik Rahim is an American housing and prison activist based since the late 1990s in the New Orleans area of Louisiana, where he grew up. Rahim is a veteran and former Black Panther in New Orleans. In 2005, Rahim gained national publicity as a community organizer to combat the widespread destruction in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, co-founding the Common Ground Collective.

Ashley Shelton

Ashley K. Shelton is the Founder, President, and CEO of the Power Coalition, a statewide 501c3 table in Louisiana. The Power Coalition uses a broad-based strategy that combines community organizing, issue advocacy, and civic action, all while increasing the capacity of community organizations throughout the state to sustain and hold the work. Ashley was the former Vice President of Programs at the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation (LDRF), now the Foundation for Louisiana.

The Panel will be moderated by Dr. Marcia Walker-McWilliams, Director of the Tulane History Project.