Wilson, Paul E.

Paul E. Wilson (1913-2001) graduated from the University of Kansas and Washburn University Law School. Having been admitted to the Kansas Bar in 1940, he served as Osage County attorney and assistant Attorney General of Kansas. It was in this latter capacity that he represented the state during the Brown v. Board of Education landmark case. In 1957 he was appointed as a faculty member in the University of Kansas School of Law.

From the guide to the Paul Wilson research materials, 1962-1995, (University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library Kansas Collection)

Paul E. Wilson was born in 1915 near Quenemo in Osage County, Kansas. In 1937 and 1938, he earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in political science from the University of Kansas. In 1941, he married Harriet Stephens, with whom he had four children. Wilson earned a law degree from Washburn University at Topeka in 1942, and from 1942 to 1946 served in the U.S. Army. During World War II, he saw active duty in New Guinea and the Philippines.

After the war, Wilson served two terms as County Attorney for Osage County. He represented Kansas as Assistant Attorney General in the landmark Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education segregation case, argued before the Supreme Court in 1954. Wilson joined the faculty of the University of Kansas School of Law in 1957, served on the Kansas Judicial Council, and became a nationally known authority on criminal law. He retired from the University in 1981. His memoir regarding the Brown case was published in 1995 in the book titled A Time to Lose . Wilson died at Lawrence, Kansas on April 22, 2001.

From the guide to the Letters to Harriet, 1942-1946; 1990, (University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library Kansas Collection)