As we enter Black History Month, don’t forget Samuel W. Tucker.

Mr. Tucker was a founding partner in the former Hill, Tucker and Marsh law firm in Richmond. He was an unsung civil rights attorney. His named law partners were the late Oliver W. Hill Sr., the presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, the late Harold M. Marsh Sr. and former state Sen. Henry L. Marsh III.

Mr. Tucker never attended law school. He read the law, studied for the state bar and was admitted in 1934. Mr. Tucker was a co-operating NAACP attorney and was the NAACP Lawyer of the Year in 1966.

In 1967, Mr. Tucker had filed about 150 civil rights cases in state and federal courts. He was involved in state and U.S. Supreme Court cases. One such case was Griffin v. Prince Edward County, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled as un-constitutional the county’s decision to close local public schools for five years rather than integrate and to provide vouchers for students to attend private schools.

He was the mentor to many lawyers, including many who did not work for the firm. At least 10 attorneys who worked for the firm at one time or another later became judges.

Mr. Tucker was a soft-spoken, humble man. He turned into a different person when litigating and advocating for his clients. Mr. Tucker was a proud person who would rather die than compromise his integrity. His late wife, Julia, was always faithfully by his side.

Mr. Tucker spent more than 50 years fighting for equal justice under the law. He fought discrimination everywhere it reared its ugly head. Former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder called Mr. Tucker a “giant among giants.”

Mr. Tucker was a major in the Army during World War II. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

So, in honor of Mr. Tucker, “Let freedom ring,” to quote Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Let it ring from every state and every city. From every village and every hamlet. Let freedom ring ...”

TONNIE VILLINES

South Boston