Alvin Dwight Pettit
MSA SC 3520-15182
Biography:
Born September 29, 1945, in Rutherfordton, North Carolina. Father George D. Pettit. Attended local public schools in Baltimore City and Harford County, Maryland; Howard University, B.A., 1967, J.D., 1970. Admitted to Bar, 1971. Married Barbara Moore; two children, Alvin D. Pettit, Jr., and Nahisha Pettit.
First Lieutenant, ROTC, U.S. Air Force, discharged 1971. Attorney, Small Business Administration, 1970-1974. Assistant Public Defender, Baltimore City, 1973-1974. Private practice, 1973-present, specializing in criminal defense and civil suits. Maryland state co-chair of Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential campaign. Floor whip, 1976 Democratic National Convention. Baltimore City chair, Jesse Jackson's 1984 presidential campaign. Unsuccessful candidate for State's Attorney for Baltimore City, 1978; U.S. Congress, 1984. Nominated for U.S. Attorney but not chosen, 1977. As an attorney, active in civil rights and discrimination law suits, including his father's 1972 case against the U.S. Army for racial discrimination, which Pettit won, and a suit against the Maryland State Bar Association that expanded access for African Americans to become lawyers. In 1959, Pettit and his parents sued Harford County over discriminatory school admission policies, winning what became an important school integration case. President, Monumental City Bar Association, 1976-1978. Inducted into Howard University Athletics Hall of Fame as part of 1964 football team, 1994. Member, Board of Regents, University of Maryland, 2003-present.
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