W. Haywood Burns

The W. Haywood Burns Institute is named for the late W. Haywood Burns, who was a beacon of light for those who believed that the battle for human rights and justice was a goal that could be achieved through activism, humility and dedication. After graduating with honor from Harvard College and receiving a law degree from Yale University, Haywood served as the first law clerk for District Court Judge Constance Baker Motley. In 1968 he served as general counsel to Martin Luther King's Poor People's Campaign. He was one of the founders of the National Conference of Black Lawyers. He worked on the defense of the Attica prisoners and many other causes of people struggling for self-determination. Haywood was the founding dean of the City College Urban Legal Studies Program serving from 1977-1987. He went on to serve as dean of the Law School at the City University of New York (CUNY). Haywood was a Visiting Scholar at Yale Law School and returned to New York to establish a Harlem-based law firm. His talents, passions and zest for life were his signature. He was tragically killed in an automobile accident while attending the International Association of Democratic Lawyers conference in Cape Town, South Africa. Haywood's family has enthusiastically endorsed the use of his name for the work of the Burns Institute. It would be difficult to imagine a more fitting person in whose memory the Burns Institute works on behalf of young people of color, their families and communities.