King, Carol Weiss, 1895-1952

Carol Weiss King (1895-1952) was a pioneer in the human rights legal arena. She graduated from Barnard College in 1916 and New York University Law School in 1920. Although she came from a family of corporate lawyers, she chose to focus primarily on immigration law and justice for resident aliens and newly arrived immigrants. She was also deeply interested in the problems of workers and consistently defended victims of anti-radical hysteria whose civil rights had been violated. She had a life-long association with left-wing activists, including members of the Communist Party of the United States. From 1924 to 1931 she edited the American Civil Liberty Union's Law and Freedom Bulletin and was a founder of both the International Judicial Association and the National Lawyers Guild. In 1942, she became general counsel to the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born.

Ms. King preferred researching complex legal issues and writing persuasive briefs to actual courtroom appearance; she worked behind the scenes on many prominent cases that came before the Supreme Court (e.g., Herndon v. Lowrey [1937]; Powell v. Alabama [1932], the first of the "Scottsboro Boys" cases; Schneiderman v. United States [1943] and others). She was also a successful courtroom advocate in such cases as the defense of Harry Bridges, radical president of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, against deportation proceedings.

Because of her association with controversial clients, King herself was subject to surveillance by the FBI.

In 1917, Carol Weiss married Gordon C. King, a Harvard graduate and struggling writer. They had one son, Jonathan, in 1925. Gordon King died in 1930. After a bout with cancer, Carol Weiss King died in 1952, at the age of 56.

Source: Ginger, Ann Fagan, Carol Weiss King, Human Rights Lawyer (Niwot, CO: University Press of Colorado, c1993).

From the guide to the Carol Weiss King FOIA Files, 1941-1952, 1988, (Tamiment Library / Wagner Archives)