Byrd Brown was a leader in the
Civil Rights Movement and contemporary of the Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. Mayor Tom Murphy of
Pittsburgh said, "Byrd Brown was an African-American who stood in the front lines of the civil rights movement and faced down enormous hatred and prejudice. It takes a rare kind of courage to be able to do that."
Events organized In the 1960s Brown helped to organize rallies at
Forbes Field where King spoke.
NAACP Brown was president of the Pittsburgh
NAACP from 1958 to 1971.
Pro bono and philanthropy work Brown donated regularly and generously to a non-profit organization called Hand in Hand that gave college scholarships.
City Councilman Sala Udin recalled the time while they were driving back to Pittsburgh from
Mississippi in the 1960s the police stopped him and fellow civil rights workers. Officers arrested Udin and the others after they searched their car and found a pistol. Udin called Brown while stuck in jail. "Byrd came to
Kentucky and got us out of jail," Udin said Brown donated generously to college scholarships and
non-profit organizations that assisted the poor and less fortunate. For instance, in the 1970s, when
Warner Cable came to
Pittsburgh, Brown arranged for local charities to receive company stock. According to the
Reverend Leroy Patrick,
pastor emeritus of
Bethesda Presbyterian Church, his church received $300,000 for its stock when Warner Cable was later bought out.
Litigation Former
NAACP president Harvey Adams said of Brown, "
Pro bono was his middle name," "He did a thorough job whether the client had a nickel or nothing. He made them work to put a person in jail." Brown filed successful
civil rights litigation challenging perpetual
racism in housing from the local Board of
Realtors and represented Oswald Nickens, a black
gynecologist who was prevented from buying a piece of property in
Stanton Heights until his lawsuit. == Politics and later life ==