Oliver Hill, RIP

The Washington Post has the story of the funeral of Oliver Hill, one of the vital lawyers who helped midwife the Civil Rights Movement. Appropriately, the passing of the 100-year-old Hill fueled as much celebration for a life well lived as mourning over his death. The lawyers at the heart of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's challenges to Jim Crow tend to get lost in the shuffle as the plaintiffs, politicians, and activists get the lion's share of the attention. But without the committed cadre of lawyers who challenged the system at mid-century, the rest of it may never have succeeded.