RNJ Calls on Secretary Fudge to Investigate Systemic Racism at Cleveland-Marshall

CLEVELAND, March 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Rename John Marshall ("RNJ"), an initiative by a group of attorneys, calls on Secretary Marcia Fudge to investigate systemic racism at her law school alma mater, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University (the "School"). The School is one of 17 schools in the country, including three law schools, named after former Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall.

Cleveland-Marshall Rename Committee Proves Ineffectual

In September, Dean Lee Fisher of Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University, announced a committee to explore the School's "role in perpetuating systemic racism, be it conscious or unconscious" after dozens of community leaders signed on to a name change to drop "Marshall." To date, nothing has been done.

As a national leader, we call on Secretary Fudge to open and encourage debate at the School. Knowledge of this issue by CSU's leadership, without action, is unacceptable. We further ask the School to not use the merger with the University of Akron School of Law as a way to avoid the issue of the School being named after a slave master.

Cleveland-Marshall Named After Slave Master

Marshall, for whom the School is named, was a slave owner. Census records show Marshall was one of the largest slave owners in Virginia at the time. At his death, Marshall owned nearly 200 slaves, and bought and sold hundreds more throughout his tenure as Chief Justice. His opinions denying slaves freedom were biased by his profit-seeking role in the slave trade.

Marshall's Slave Ownership Tainted Opinions

As someone who profited from the slave trade, Marshall's opinions as Chief Justice were tainted (Marshall is 7-0 in denying freedom). Oftentimes, Marshall agreed with a petitioner-slave requesting freedom, but denied freedom based on legal technicalities. Other opinions of Marshall denied that Native Americans had any rights to the land.

Marshall's Slave History Buried by Historians

Marshall's last and final will evidenced the extent of his slave ownership, but lead historians covering Marshall's life failed to include it. Instead, historians referenced earlier drafts of Marshall's will, showing he owned a few house servants. Marshall's slave history was buried, until historian and truth-seeker Paul Finkelman sought to bring the historical facts to light.

In another astonishing effort at truth-seeking, the rename committee at John Marshall Law School at UIC voted in December, by a vote of 6-1, to drop "Marshall" from the school name, becoming the first "Marshall" institution in America to acknowledge its role in systemic racism. The name "Marshall" is simply inconsistent with the institution's ethos.

We ask that Cleveland-Marshall follow suit.

About Rename John Marshall

Rename John Marshall is a movement by a group of lawyers in Cleveland and Chicago, who seek to remove "Marshall" from school names. RNJ's efforts led to the formation of rename committees by both UIC's John Marshall Law School and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University.

SOURCE Rename John Marshall

Related Links

https://renamejohnmarshall.com