March 13 marks the 50th year that admirers will meet by the Jackson Park lagoon on the Clarence Darrow Bridge, to honor legendary lawyer Clarence Darrow’s memory. Darrow died March 13, 1938 in Chicago and his ashes were strewn at the lagoon.
This year’s remembrance of Darrow has special significance. As the Clarence Darrow Commemorative Committee notes, Darrow “…used the courtroom platform to champion the causes close to him, to argue some of the major issues of his time, too many of which are still being fought today.”
One of those issues was opposition to capital punishment and the death penalty, and on Mar. 9th, Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois signed a bill ending the death penalty in Illinois and commuting the sentences of 15 death row inmates.
Darrow characterized capital punishment as “… too horrible a thing for a State to undertake.”
Speakers at the ceremony on the bridge named for Darrow by the Chicago Park District in 1957, include Larry Spivak, President of the Illinois Labor History Society and Regional Director of AFSCME Council 31, State Representative Barbara Flynn Currie and Alderwoman Leslie Hairston.
After the outdoor wreath-tossing, guests will move inside to the Museum of Science and Industry’s New Columbia Room for a dual tribute to Darrow and his work on capital punishment.
For complete information on the wreath-tossing and related memorial program, see Clarence Darrow Commemorative Committee.
