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Dean Franita Tolson receives Langston Bar Leadership Award

USC Gould School of Law • April 28, 2025
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The accolade honors Tolson’s achievements in legal education and her advocacy of justice

USC Gould School of Law Dean Franita Tolson was named the recipient of the John M. Langston Bar Association Leadership Award. The award recognizes Dean Tolson’s accomplishments in legal education, ongoing service to the community and her advancement of justice in society.

The Langston Bar Association is the largest and most longstanding bar association of African American attorneys in California; USC Gould alumnus Crispus Attucks Wright ’38 was among its founders. Tolson was presented with the award at the association’s 48th Annual Installation and Scholarship Awards Gala in February.

“In my role as USC Gould Dean, I’m filled with pride to be part of a law school that represents courageous leadership, advocacy for justice, community impact and transforming people’s lives through education,” said Tolson in her remarks. “Coincidentally, those are much the same qualities that lie at the heart of the Langston Bar Association’s rich history.”

Tolson is a foremost expert on election law and voting rights. She has written extensively on the Elections Clause, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, gerrymandering, and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments — and ranks among the nation’s most-cited law deans.

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