In Memoriam: Len Holt

Len Holt

1928 – 2016

Born in 1928 in Tuscumbia, Alabama, Len Holt spent his childhood in Chicago, Illinois. Holt served in the Navy for two years as a pharmacist’s mate before attending University of Redlands in California. Upon completion of his degree at Redlands, Holt enrolled at Howard University Law School. Holt was active in the civil rights movement, working as a field secretary for CORE. A member of the National Lawyers Guild, Holt served as a defender for protestors arrested for their participation in civil rights demonstrations throughout the South, including many SNCC workers. He authored two books in the 1960s about his experiences in the South during the civil rights movement, The Summer that Didn’t End: The Story of the Mississippi Civil Rights Project of 1964 and An Act of Conscience.  Len Holt died in 2016, age 88.

Len Holt