Brewer, Vivion Lenon, 1900-

Co-founder, Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools; Volunteer; Banker; Lawyer.

Vivion Lenon Brewer was born in Little Rock, Arkansas; graduated from Smith College in 1921; and received a law degree from Arkansas Law School in 1928. Rather than practice law, she continued to work in her father's bank and was made Vice President. She married Joseph Brewer in 1930, nephew of Senator Joseph T. Robinson, and they lived in Washington, D.C. until 1946 when they returned to Arkansas. There she participated in organizations such as the American Association of University Women and the League of Women Voters. In 1958, when the Governor closed Little Rock public schools rather than integrate them, Brewer, along with several other prominent local women, organized the Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools and became some of the most visible white advocates of integration. After the Little Rock schools re-opened and the Women's Emergency Committee disbanded, Brewer continued her civil rights activism by organizing educational programs for African-American children. In 1961 she was awarded an honorary degree from Smith College.