SACRAMENTO – The life and legacy of one of Sacramento’s most noted legal minds will be acknowledged this week as The Center of Sacramento History celebrates the online exhibit and short film “The Time Is Now: The Civic Life of Sacramento’s Nathaniel Colley” on Thursday, March 22.
Colley is credited with being the first full-time Black lawyer in Sacramento. Colley, who died in 1992,was legal counsel for the local and regional NAACP and sat on the organization’s national board.
He practiced law in Sacramento for more than 40 years and in that time, took on countless civil rights cases and was particularly successful in the area of housing discrimination.
In honor of the exhibit and film’s debut, there will be a special lecture presentation by UC Berkeley professor Dr. Mark Brilliant. The history professor will deliver a lecture titled, “The Color of America Has Changed: How Racial Diversity Shaped Civil Rights Reform in California,1941-1978”and sign copies of his book of the same name.
The event is to take place at the Center for Sacramento History, 551 Sequoia Pacific Boulevard, in conjunction with the Sacramento History Foundation.
A donor reception will begin at 6:00 p.m. and feature Dr. Brilliant, video producer Chris Lango and members of the Colley family. The lecture follows at 7:00 p.m.
For more information, call (916) 808-7072 or visit www.centerforsacramentohistory.org.