N.C. A&T Human Rights Medal Awarded To State Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls

N.C. A&T State University has awarded its 2021 Human Rights Medal to North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls. 

The award was given to Earls on Monday at a virtual event honoring the “A&T Four,” four Black students who staged a sit-in at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, which is now the site of the International Civil Rights Museum.

Earls spent 30 years as a civil rights attorney before joining the state Supreme Court as an associate justice. She also worked in the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice under President Bill Clinton's administration.

In 2007 she founded the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, a legal advocacy nonprofit where she also served as executive director. 

Earls is a Democrat who was elected to the North Carolina Supreme Court in 2018 for an eight-year term.

The N.C A&T Human Rights Medal is awarded annually to people who have committed themselves to correcting social injustice and strive to improve the world. Previous recipients include the late civil rights leader U.S. Rep. John Lewis, and current Rep. Alma Adams, who is an A&T alumna.