Scope and Content Note
The papers of John Adolphus Payton (1946-2012) span the years 1913-2012, with the bulk of the material dating from 1992 to 2012. The papers are organized alphabetically by type of material or topic and thereunder alphabetically or chronologically.
Payton was a civil rights attorney and an advocate for equality and the protection of minorities. He pursued his advocacy while in private practice and as the president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Payton was also at the center of several important affirmative action cases. Most notable are the University of Michigan cases, Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger, the Virginia case, City of Richmond v. J. A. Croson Co., and the Illinois case, Lewis v. City of Chicago.
Speeches, dating from 1987 to 2012, comprise the majority of the collection, with a partial index compiled by Payton covering the years 1992-2007. Numbered among the speeches are interviews of Payton and his testimonies before the United States Congress. He spoke at various occasions on the outcome and implication of the University of Michigan cases and the Richmond case, but also on the election in South Africa in 1994, civil rights, affirmative action, education, and the law. Included with the speeches are drafts, correspondence, notes, programs, and newspaper clippings. A copy of the speech is not always present.
The legal file, dating from 1976 to 2012, contains mostly bound volumes of legal documents and printed briefs from cases in which Payton either represented a litigant or was a party to an amicus brief. Among the cases are the Michigan cases, the Richmond case, NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co., cases from Payton’s tenure as the corporation counsel of the District of Columbia including District of Columbia v. Greater Washington Board of Trade, and cases in which he was involved during his years as the president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, including Lewis v. City of Chicago.
In 1994, Payton was a member of the election observation team sent by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Southern Africa Project, to monitor the first free elections in South Africa. His wife, Gay J. McDougall, was director of the project. The files include sample ballots, reports, briefing books, manuals and handbooks, notes, memorabilia, South African newspapers, newspaper clippings, and government publications. Included also is material from the Independent Electoral Commission, a commission on which McDougall was the only American.
Rounding out the collection are writings from the 1980s and later, biographical information, general correspondence, congratulatory letters, course material from classes taught by Payton, and photographs.