EDNA SMITH PRIMUS, PIONEERING CIVIL RIGHTS LAWYER, 75
Primus was the first black women to practice law in South Carolina, and is probably best known for her work as a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in the 1970s. She won the US Supreme Court case that widened free speech rights for attorneys at nonprofit organizations.
In 1978, she was publicly reprimanded by the South Carolina Supreme Court for simply suggesting to a group of women who had received involuntary sterilizations that the ACLU could sue for them. At the time, South Carolina and some other states required poor women to be sterilized in order to receive public assistance through Medicaid. Because these forced sterilizations in the South were mostly performed on black women, many African Americans considered this genocide.
Later that year, the US Supreme Court overturned the state court’s reprimand, finding in their ruling that she was protected by the First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of speech and expression. The court declared a lawyer could recruit clients when this concerned political expression and advocating for public rights. This ruling helped lead to current rules that attorneys working with nonprofits have wider constitutional protections than those motivated primarily by financial gain.
Up until the 1980’s, South Carolina kept its sterilization laws. In 2003, South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges (b.1956) made a public apology for the forced sterilizations that had occurred in the state, and for the people who had their rights to have children violated.
Up until the 1980’s, South Carolina kept its sterilization laws. In 2003, South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges (b.1956) made a public apology for the forced sterilizations that had occurred in the state, and for the people who had their rights to have children violated.
After the case, Primus continued to work for several decades in civil rights and social justice law.
Primus was praised by Wilbur Johnson, who worked for her at Palmetto Legal Services (Spartanburg, South Carolina): "Edna always demonstrated a quiet but serious commitment to the agency’s central mission; that is, delivering quality legal services to those citizens who otherwise could not afford them.”
