



Congressman Sanford Bishop
BlackLawyer-ish Movement Honorary Chair

Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr., a Black lawyer and 1971 graduate of Emory University School of Law, is Dean of the Georgia Congressional Delegation. He is Georgia's most senior member, serving his sixteenth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Congressman Bishop represents Georgia's Second Congressional District, which covers 30 Middle and Southwest Georgia counties: Bibb (in part), Baker, Calhoun, Chattahoochee, Clay, Crawford, Decatur, Dooly, Dougherty, Early, Grady, Houston (in part), Lee, Macon, Marion, Miller, Mitchell, Muscogee (in part), Peach, Quitman, Randolph, Seminole, Schley, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taylor, Terrell, Thomas, and Webster.
The Middle and Southwest Georgia legislator seeks to use the legislative process to create a higher, better quality of life for all citizens by promoting jobs and a stronger, more diversified economy, opportunities for rural areas, better education, safe and secure communities, a clean environment, affordable and accessible health care, sustainable agriculture, energy independence, and a strong national defense -- all within the context of a balanced budget.
Congressman Bishop was born February 4, 1947, in Mobile, Alabama, and is the son of the late Dr. Sanford D. Bishop, Sr., the first president of Bishop State Community College in Mobile, Alabama, and Mrs. Minnie S. Bishop, a librarian. He is married to the Honorable Vivian Creighton Bishop, who serves as the elected Clerk of the Municipal Court of Columbus, Georgia (court administrator). They have a daughter, Aayesha J. Reese, and a granddaughter, Londyn.
Our BlackLawyerISH Honorary Chair graduated with his bachelors from Morehouse College in 1968 and with his law degree from Emory University Law School in 1971. In addition to these degrees, Morehouse awarded Bishop an honorary doctor of laws in 2010. He enlisted into the U.S. Army in 1969 and successfully completed basic training at Fort Moore, Georgia. He then enrolled in Advanced Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) training and later received an Honorable Discharge in 1971. He resided in Columbus, Georgia from 1972 to 1996, where he was the primary partner in the law firm of Bishop and Buckner, P.C. He is an Eagle Scout, a 33rd Degree Mason (PHA), a member of the Order of St. John, and a Shriner. He is a resident of Albany, Georgia, where he is a Deacon and Trustee of the Mount Zion Baptist Church.
01 about the movement
The nonpartisan BlackLawyerISH Movement opens with a singular focus: placing 1,000 Black lawyers at polling places in the State of Georgia on Tuesday, November 5, 2024 when voters cast ballots to elect the next President of the United States. The late Charles Hamilton Houston, the first General Counsel for the NAACP and the man credited with killing Jim Crow once said, “a lawyer's either a social engineer or a parasite on society.” BlackLawyerISH volunteers are social engineers, giving up a traditional day of their legal work to serve as election monitors and resources for Georgia voters on election day.
A 2023 Forbes article (https://www.forbes.com/sites/marybethgasman/2023/03/16/why-we-need-more-african-american-lawyers/) makes a strong case for why America needs more Black lawyers, noting that while 13% of the United States population is Black, only 5% of American lawyers are Black, a percentage that has been stagnant for more than two decades. Equal Justice Works has accurately observed and is quoted saying in the referenced Forbes article that “representation matters–both legal representation to navigate the justice system and racial representation to ensure communities have a sense of agency and can see themselves reflected in their lawyer.”
The BlackLawyerISH movement does not endorse any candidate. However, we realize, like so many other Americans, that democracy is on the ballot in a way never experienced in the lifetime of most voters. This historic election, where a Black woman who happens to be a lawyer is on the ballot as the presidential candidate for a major political party, happens as we celebrate the sixty-year anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 and we approach the sixty-year anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Home of staunch voting rights activist and civil rights icon, the late Congressman John Lewis and global champion of democracy former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, the great State of Georgia will be a battle until the end in this year's election.
Georgia, a state formerly subject to consent decrees based on its discriminatory practices and scare tactics that taunted and intimidated Black voters, is, like so many other states, also home to massive election reform since the last presidential election. This reform does not stand alone to make Georgia a state of profound interest. A groundswell of 400,000+ new voters (most of whom are brown), between the 2010 and the 2020 U.S. census and a 2.9% population growth index since last year has eyes across the country and around the world fixed on Georgia. Safe, full, and fair elections where everyone entitled to cast a ballot is protected and every vote is counted is in the best interest of democracy.
BlackLawyerISH volunteers are dedicated to doing our parts to ensure all voters feel as though they are treated fairly and able to exercise their right to vote, without fear or favor. Georgia, with a Republican Governor and two Democrat U.S. Senators, has been identified as one of seven swing states expected to influence the outcome of the U.S. Presidential election, just as it was in the 2020 U.S. Presidential election cycle. Black lawyers and the presence of Black lawyers matter, and we stand ready to social engineer to protect and support the voters on America's national election day this November.
PLEASE be involved. If you can, cast your ballot early at home, whether in Georgia or another state, and then be in Georgia on November 5, 2024 at a polling location from 7:00 am until 8:30 pm.Subscribe and volunteer by filling out the form on this website. Join us at an event on Saturday, October 26, 2024 to hear from election officials, organizers, and other officials who will talk through issues related to election protection an, our roles for election day, and our training to effectively support voters on election day.
02 movement leaders
BlackLawyer-ish Movement Chair

Professor Alicia Hughes
Emory University School of Law
Voting Rights Law Expert and Media Commentator
BlackLawyer-ish Movement Co-chairs

Christopher L. Bruce, Esq.
Gate City Bar Association President-elect
ACLU of Georgia Policy Director

Barbara Joy Jones-Parks, M.D.
Atlanta White Coats and Gavels Founder

J. Wyndal Gordon, Esq.
National Bar Association
Vice President of Membership

Aklima Khondoker, Esq.
Election Lawyer and Community Organizer
Special Thanks to the BlackLawyer-ish Movement Sponsors
An organic, nonpartisan movement unaffiliated with a political action committee or campaign is only possible with generous donations of volunteer time, in-kind gifts, and financial assistance from well-intended persons who support democracy and voting rights/ballot access for everyone.
03 blacklawyer-ish movement events


