University of Georgia presents The Holmes-Hunter Signature Lecture

The Holmes-Hunter Lecture Series was established in 1985 in conjunction with the University of Georgia’s Bicentennial to honor Dr. Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter-Gault, the first black students to enroll at UGA. The lecture is given by a distinguished scholar or public figure and focuses on race relations, aspects of higher education with implications for race relations or black history.

Tuesday February 28, 2023
2:00 P.M.

Featured Speaker

Justice Verda Colvin

Justice Verda Colvin

The Honorable Verda M. Colvin is a Georgia Supreme Court Justice and a UGA School of Law alumna. Justice Colvin was appointed to the Supreme Court by Governor Brian Kemp, becoming the first Black woman appointed by a Republican Governor to the state’s high court.

Previously, she served on the Court of Appeals. Her time as a judge also includes nearly six years as a Superior Court Judge in the Macon Judicial Circuit, during which she served on the Council of Accountability Court Judges. Early in her career, she served as an Assistant Solicitor in Athens-Clarke County. From there, she went on to serve as Assistant General Counsel to Clark Atlanta University and then as an Assistant District Attorney in Clayton County. Before becoming a judge, Justice Colvin was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Middle District of Georgia.

Among her numerous honors are the Alaimo Award from the Georgia Trial Lawyer Association, the Leah Ward Sears Award for Distinction in the Profession from the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys, the Young Lawyer Division of the State Bar of Georgia Distinguished Judicial Award, the Tradition of Excellence Award as a Judge from the General Practice and Trial Section of the State Bar of Georgia, the NAACP President’s Award, the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Pearls of Service Award, the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Citizen of the Year, and the Career Women’s Network Woman of Achievement.

Born and raised in Atlanta, Justice Colvin earned bachelor’s degrees in government and religion from Sweet Briar College and a juris doctorate from the University of Georgia School of Law. She has served as an Adjunct Professor at the Mercer School of Law and a Jurist in Residence at the UGA School of Law.

About

Hamilton Holmes

Hamilton Holmes

Dr. Holmes earned a bachelor’s degree cum laude in 1963 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Following graduation from UGA, he became the first black student admitted to the Emory University School of Medicine. At the time of his death, on October 26, 1995, Dr. Holmes was an Orthopedic Surgeon in Atlanta, Associate Dean and a member of the faculty of Emory University School of Medicine, and Chairman of the Orthopedic Unit at Grady Memorial Hospital.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Ms. Hunter-Gault received a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1963. She wrote for The New York Times for eight years, and then was long associated with PBS’s MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour. After two years as chief correspondent with National Public Radio, Ms. Hunter-Gault left the position and began working for CNN International in Johannesburg, where she served as bureau chief until 2005. Ms. Hunter Gault has received numerous awards for reporting, including two Peabody Awards for her coverage of Africa. Her memoir about her experiences at University of Georgia, In My Place, was published in 1992. Ms. Hunter-Gault dedicated her papers to UGA’s Richard B. Russell Library in 2011 during the University’s 50th anniversary celebration of its desegregation.

Previous Holmes-Hunter Lecturers