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Looking Back
accessible at www.djnfoundation.org
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Remembering a Champion of Liberty
Once in a while, when researching a particular topic, I cannot find anything in the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History. This is rare, but one topic often leads to another interesting subject … or to a person of note.
This year marks the 45th anniversary of landmark legislation in Michigan. In 1976, the Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) was passed. It is an act with a wide focus, prohibiting discrimination in the state based on “religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status or marital status” in employment, housing, education and access to public accommodations.
For Jewish Detroit, the prohibition of discrimination based on religion is the key phrase. Indeed, the ELCRA was a big leap forward for Michigan law in the 1970s. However, the Act is increasingly relevant in today’s political climate of rising antisemitism and extreme right-wing prejudice against others of various types of “religion, race, color, national origin, etc.”
Despite the path-breaking nature of the ELCRA, I was surprised to find that it was only mentioned on two pages of JN. These were more recent stories about the efforts of the NJCW to make sure the Act enforced its sex discrimination provisions regarding pay equity and health care (JN Dec. 27, 2007, and March 28, 2013). Nevertheless, I did learn a few things about the Jewish nature of the Act’s foundation. I also learned that the work of one Jewish lawyer was instrumental in laying the foundation of the ELCRA in the 1960s: Professor Harold Norris (19182013).
The act itself was built upon civil rights provisions incorporated in the new state constitution produced by the Michigan Constitutional Convention, 1961-1962.
Approved by the voters in 1963, it became the basis for Michigan law in January 1964. The new constitution featured a national “first.” It enacted a Michigan Civil Rights Commission with investigative powers not found in any other state constitution. Publisher Emeritus Arthur Horwitz’s essay “Turning Point for Civil Rights” (Jan. 24, 2013, JN) summarizes this signature accomplishment, and noted that Professor Norris played a salient role in crafting its civil rights provisions, which underlie 1976’s ELRCA. In the Archive, I found no shortage of pages citing the work of Norris. A native Mike Smith Alene and of Detroit, as soon as he began practicing Graham Landau law in Michigan, Norris concentrated on Archivist Chair constitutional, labor and civil liberties law. He taught more than 6,000 students about these legal doctrines as a professor at the Detroit College of Law (DCL), now a school of Michigan State University, for 37 years. During his tenure at the DCL, Norris was elected to Michigan’s Constitutional Convention in 1961, received two Lifetime Achievement Awards in 1988 and 2011 from the State Bar of Michigan, a special award for “25 Years of Outstanding Service” from the Detroit Jewish Chronicle, and was honored by the Michigan Supreme Court in 1987, to name just a few accolades. Norris was also an author of several books, a celebrated poet and a popular speaker. His famous poem, The Liberty Bell, is still on display at the Detroit Public Library. The obituary for Professor Norris in the Oct. 24, 2013, JN was aptly titled “Champion of Liberty” and it described him as one of “Michigan’s most celebrated civil liberties advocates.” Today, we all benefit from his wisdom.
Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives, available for free at www.djnfoundation. org.
