Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 4-27-18

Feature
Opening Ceremony Planned For School Named in Honor Of Prominent Attorney
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
On Saturday, April 28th, at 2 p.m., the Warren Hope Dawson Elementary School, 12961 Boggy Creek Drive, in Riverview, will hold its opening ceremony. The community is invited to join in the celebration.
The school is named in honor of Attorney War- ren Hope Dawson, a longstanding and promi- nent Tampa attorney.
Of the naming of the school in his honor, Attor- ney Dawson said, “I am obviously very excited and humbled by the fact that the community in part and the Hillsborough County School Board decided to recognize the work I have done in the community and the legal work in connection with the school system.”
Attorney Dawson sug- gests that those planning to attend the opening come early to tour the facility. At 7 p.m., on Saturday, a Gospel Concert will take place at Greater New Salem Primi-
Attorney Warren Dawson stands in front of the school named in his honor.
District had achieved "uni- tary status" and no longer required federal judicial su- pervision.
In 1966, Attorney Daw- son became the first African American attorney to prac- tice in federal court in Tampa. He said he was re- cruited by the Federal Gov- ernment while at Howard University, School of Law.
Attorney Dawson also participated in the voting rights case of Warren vs. City of Tampa. That case successfully challenged the at-large election systems of the City of Tampa and Hills- borough County. That legal effort led to the creation of a combination of at-large and single-member districts in the city and county.
“I have helped to make the Tampa Bay community bet- ter in relationship to diver- sity, justice and equality during the 51 years I have practiced in this commu- nity.”
A native of Mulberry, At- torney Dawson graduated from Union Academy High School, in Bartow. After graduating from Florida A & M University, he served as an active duty officer in the U. S. Army.
He returned to school after his military stint and earned his law degree from Howard University, School of Law, graduating in 1966.
In 1983, he was elected as President of the National Bar Association.
tive Baptist Church, 1605 N. Nebraska Avenue.
He stated the Gospel Con- cert is in honor of his mother, the late Mrs. Naomi Warren Dawson, and brother, the late Ja- phus Dawson. The family performed gospel music as a trio. He began singing when he was 3-years-old, he said.
Attorney Dawson is best known for his role as
lead counsel for the plain- tiffs in the now famous 1974 lawsuit known as Manning vs. the School Board of Hillsborough County.
As the lead counsel, he was responsible for moni- toring and enforcing the de- segregation Orders handed down by the Federal Courts.
It was not until 2001, that a Federal Appeals Court fi- nally ruled that the School
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