Obsequies of Z. Alexander Looby, Civil Rights Leader and Attorney, March 27, 1972

Item Details

Original funeral program for Z. Alexander Looby (1899–1972), held at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 27, 1972. Looby was a distinguished attorney, educator, and civil rights activist whose work helped transform the legal and social landscape of the American South. Born in Antigua, he immigrated to the United States, earning a law degree at Columbia University and later serving as professor and dean at Fisk University and Meharry Medical College.

As a defense attorney, Looby represented students arrested during Nashville’s lunch counter sit-ins of 1960, providing critical legal protection for the movement. In 1946, he successfully argued Smith v. Allwright before the U.S. Supreme Court, striking down Tennessee’s whites-only primaries. Looby also served on Nashville’s City Council (1951–1971), where he was instrumental in dismantling segregation ordinances.

In 1960, his home was targeted in a racially motivated bombing, an attack that galvanized further civil rights demonstrations. Despite threats and violence, Looby continued his advocacy until his passing in 1972.

This program includes the order of service, hymns, pallbearers, and acknowledgment from the family, with burial at Greenwood Cemetery. A rare piece of Nashville civil rights and African American legal history.

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