| Carl Maxey: A Fighting Life Subjects: Maxey Carl 1924–1997; African American lawyers -- Washington (State) -- Spokane -- Biography; Civil rights workers -- Washington (State) -- Spokane -- Biography; Boxers (Sports) -- Washington (State) -- Spokane -- Biography; Carl Maxey was, in his own words, "a guy who started from scratch - black scratch." He was sent, at age five, to the scandal-ridden Spokane Children's Home and then kicked out at age eleven with the only other "colored" orphan. Yet Maxey managed to make a national name for himself, first as an NCAA championship boxer at Gonzaga University, and then as eastern Washington's first prominent black lawyer and a renowned civil rights attorney who always fought for the underdog. Jim Kershner is a journalist for The Spokesman-Review in Spokane. |