“Deeply honored to receive the William R. Ming Award,” Gupta tweeted
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) on Monday honored Indian American lawyer Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, with William Robert Ming Advocacy award, during the annual NAACP convention in Baltimore, Maryland.
“Deeply honored to receive the William R. Ming Award from @NAACP. We have so much work ahead, together, in the fight for justice. #NAACP108,†Gupta tweeted after receiving the award.
Deeply honored to receive the William R. Ming Award from @NAACP. We have so much work ahead, together, in the fight for justice. #NAACP108 pic.twitter.com/9YwvowjjoH
— Vanita Gupta (@vanitaguptaCR) July 24, 2017
“Deeply honored by @naacp recognition. I am fired up to fight forward with all of you,†she wrote.
Thank you @Sifill_LDF. So glad to be in the work with you. https://t.co/STojTRZtbv
— Vanita Gupta (@vanitaguptaCR) July 24, 2017
Civil rights is not just my job, it is my calling.
-Vanita Gupta, 2017 Ming Advocacy Award honoree #NAACP #ATT #HumanityOfConnection pic.twitter.com/3BMBEQEbgV— NAACP (@NAACP) July 24, 2017
NAACP interim president and CEO Derrick Johnson and general counsel for the organization Bradford Berry presented Gupta with the award.
The Ming Award was created by the NAACP National Board of Directors in April 1974 and is awarded annually to a lawyer who exemplifies the spirit of financial and personal sacrifice that William Robert Ming displayed in his legal work for the NACCP.
Ming was born on May 7, 1911, in Chicago, Illinois. He received a PhD degree in 1931 and his JD degree in 1933 from the University of Chicago in Illinois. In addition to being a distinguished lawyer and professor at the Law Schools of Howard University and the University of Chicago, Ming was an active social action leader in the struggle for human equality. He was one of the architects of the strategy leading to the historic decision in Brown v. Board of Education, and other landmark decisions, including NAACP v. Alabama, Sweatt v. Painter, Mclaurin v. Oklahoma, Sipuel v. Board of Regents, Ward v. Texas, NAACP v. City of Jackson, Missouri ex red Gaines v. Canada, and Fourth District Committee of the Virginia State Bar v. S.W Tucker.
The 42-year-old Gupta began her tenure as the CEO of Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights on June 1. In October 2014, former President Obama appointed her as the principal deputy assistant attorney general and head of the US Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. She held the position until January.
Gupta oversaw a wide range of criminal and civil enforcement efforts to ensure equal justice and equal opportunity for all during her tenure as the nation’s chief civil rights prosecutor. Among other things, she focused on advancing constitutional policing and criminal justice reform, prosecuting hate crimes and human trafficking, promoting disability rights and protecting the rights of LGBTQ individuals, and ensuring voting rights for all.