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True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality

True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality

On June 26 HBO will be premiering a documentary about the life and work of Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (“EJI”). Described as “an intimate portrait of this remarkable man, True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality follows his struggle to create greater fairness in the system and shows how racial injustice emerged, evolved and continues to threaten the country, challenging viewers to confront it.”

The story, directed by six time Emmy-winner Peter Kunhardt, will be told primarily in Mr. Stevenson’s own words and intends to share his experiences working in the criminal justice system while highlighting his efforts to shine a light on the justice system’s critical flaws, including its treatment of the poor and its role in codifying modern systemic racism.

The film will chronicle Mr. Stevenson’s early life, his work in Alabama, the foundation of the EJI and the monumental opening of The Legacy Museum and The National Memorial for Peace and Justice. The Memorial for Peace and Justice is the country’s first memorial dedicated to the more than 4,400 African Americans terrorized by lynching.

Mr. Stevenson has also initiated major new anti-poverty and anti-discrimination efforts challenging the legacy of racial inequality in America. His work fighting poverty and challenging racial discrimination in the criminal-justice system has won him numerous awards including the ABA Wisdom Award for Public Service, the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Award Prize, the Olaf Palme International Prize, the ACLU National Medal of Liberty, the National Public Interest Lawyer of the Year Award, the Gruber Prize for International Justice, and the Ford Foundation Visionaries Award. In 2015, he was named to the Time 100 recognizing the world’s most influential people. In 2016, he received the American Bar Association’s Thurgood Marshall Award. He was named in Fortune’s 2016 and 2017 World’s Greatest Leaders list

He has received honorary degrees from several universities, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, and Georgetown University Law Center.

Additionally, he will be awarded honorary degrees from the following schools this year:

DePaul University - Doctor of Laws honoris cause
Rhode Island School of Design - Doctor of Fine Arts honoris causa
Swarthmore College - Doctor of Laws honoris causa
University of Edinburgh - Doctor of Laws honoris causa
University of Miami School of Law - Doctor of Laws honoris causa
University of Pennsylvania - Doctor of Laws honoris causa
Washington & Lee University - Doctor of Laws honoris causa

Read more about the documentary here.

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