Past Defenders of Justice Honorees

2024: View pictures from the 2024 Defenders of Justice Gala here

2023: View remarks from the 2023 Defenders of Justice Awardees here

2022

Bill Rowe, General Counsel and Director of Advocacy at NC Justice Center
Jane Wettach, Professor of Education Law at Duke University Law School
Hon. Susan Fisher, North Carolina House of Representatives

2021
Jim Barrett, Executive Director of Pisgah Legal Services
Letha Muhammad, Executive Director of Education Justice Alliance
Robinson Bradshaw Law Firm
Dr. William A. Darity, Jr., Samuel DuBois Cook Distinguished Professor of Public Policy
Mary “Polly” Williams

2020
Satana Deberry, Durham District Attorney
William Lassiter, NCDPS Deputy Secretary of Juvenile Justice
Maria Mayorga & staff, Latino Family Center & Women’s Resource Center Director, YWCA Highpoint
Ken Schorr, Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy

2019
Jasmine Beach Ferrara
Patricia Beier, WAGES
Sue Perry Cole, NCACDC
Ilana Dubester, El Vínculo Hispano
Marge Foreman, NCAE
Gerry Hancock, Everett Gaskins Hancock LLP
Mal Maynard
Pam Silberman

2018
Alma Adams
Dr. James Anderson
The Honorable Charles Becton
Anita Brown-Graham, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Ted Fillette, Legal Aid North Carolina-Charlotte
Adrienne Kennedy, Seeds of H.O.P.E. Project & Disaster Recovery Center
Carolyn McAllaster, Duke AIDS Legal Project and Duke HIV/AIDS Policy Clinic
John McMillan, Manning Fulton & Skinner
Christine Mumma, North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence
Renee Sekel, Save Our Schools
Southern Poverty Law Center
Cathy Tamsberg, Pullen Memorial Baptist Church
Eric Zogry, State Juvenile Defender

2017
Dr. Thomas Arcury
Chris Brook
Anita Earls
Jane Hipps
NC Council of Churches
U.S. Congressman David Price
Dr. Sara Quandt
Ken Rose
Adam Stein
Hon. Mary Ann Tally
Hon. Patricia Timmons-Goodson

20th ANNIVERSARY HONOREES – 2016
James Andrews
Governor Jim Hunt
Former Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake, Jr. (Executive Director Award for Service to North Carolina)
Representative Mickey Michaux
Tom Ross
Leslie Winner

2015
Center for Responsible Lending
Ajamu and Rukiya Dillahunt
Rep. Susan Fisher
Former Justice Bob Orr
Sen. Gladys Robinson
The University of North Carolina’s Center for Civil Rights
Tom Vitaglione

2014
Congressman G.K. Butterfield
League of Women Voters – Piedmont Triad
League of Women Voters Charlotte-Mecklenburg
NC MomsRising
NC Raise Up
Planned Parenthood in North Carolina
Mona Lisa Wallace

2013
A. Philip Randolph Institute
Equality NC
Wayne Goodwin, NC Commissioner of Insurance
Philip Lehman, NC Office of the Attorney General
Mortgage Foreclosure Unit, Legal Aid of NC

2012
Reuben Blackwell, Opportunities Industrialization Center
Disability Rights North Carolina
State Rep. Larry Hall
Mary Lee Hall, Legal Aid of NC’s Farmworker Unit
State Rep. Deborah Ross

2011
Rep. Angela Bryant
Coalición de Organizaciones Latino-Americanas
Community Success Initiative
Democracy NC
Elliot Pishko Morgan, PA
Sen. Josh Stein

2010
Great Schools in Wake
Rep. Garland Pierce
Sen. Joe Sam Queen
Jane Wettach
Kay Zwan

2009
AARP NC
Rep. Pricey Harrison
John Alan Jones and Chris Olson of Martin & Jones
Angaza Laughinghouse
Sen. Floyd McKissick, Jr.

2008
Beloved Community Center
Charlotte Observer reporters Peter St. Onge, Kerry Hall, Ames Alexander, Franco Ordonez, and Ted Mellnik
Juvencio Rocha Peralta
Jane Perkins
Rep. Jennifer Weiss

2007
Rep. Dan Blue
Sen. Katie Dorsett
Edelstein & Payne
Farmworker Advocacy Network
Rep. Rick Glazier
North Carolina Fair Share
North Carolina NAACP

2006
Rep. Alma Adams
Jim Grant
Jerry Hartzell of Hartzell & Whiteman, LLP
Rep. Verla Insko
NC Coalition for Lobbying Reform
Sen. William Purcell
Western NC Workers’ Center

2005
Farm Labor Organizing Committee
Rep. Mickey Michaux
Sen. Martin Nesbitt, Jr.
Patterson Harkavy LLP
William Schweke
Linda Virgil, Caught Before Fallen
In Memory of Deborah Greenblatt
In Memory of Carol Kirschenbaum

2004
Center for Community Action
Sen. Dan Clodfelter
Justice for Smithfield Workers Campaign
Rep. Paul Luebke
Prosperity Unlimited, Inc.
Douglas Sea
Robert Spearman

2003
Reid Adams
Garth Gersten
Institute for Southern Studies
Jim Long
Harry Payne
Student Action With Farmworkers
Polly Williams

2002
Prof. Jack Boger
Dr. Bob Bridges
Casa Guadalupe
Common Sense Foundation
Rep. Ruth Easterling
Sen. Wib Gulley
JUBILEE-NC
Dr. Pam Silberman

2001
Rep. Philip A. Baddour, Jr.
El Centro Hispano
Jereann King
Sen. Jeanne H. Lucas
Greg Malhoit
North Carolina State AFL-CIO
Robert J. Willis

2000
Rep. Martha Alexander
Geraldine Blackston
El Pueblo, Inc.
Sen. Ellie Kinnaird
Mal Maynard
Deborah Ross

1999
Rep. Dan Blue
Rep. Bob Hensley
Sen. Brad Miller
Sen. Eric Reeves