{{Short description|American lawyer (1930–2017)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}} {{About|the American lawyer and civil rights activist|the American writer and filmmaker|Lolis Eric Elie}} '''Lolis Edward Elie''' (January 9, 1930 – April 4, 2017)<ref name="Roberts">{{Cite news|last=Roberts|first=Sam|date=April 5, 2017|title=Lolis Elie, Lawyer Who Helped Desegregate New Orleans, Dies at 87|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/us/obituary-lolis-elie-dead-new-orleans-civil-rights-lawyer.html|access-date=March 21, 2021}}</ref> was an American lawyer from New Orleans who was very active in the Civil Rights Movement.<ref name=Pope>{{Cite news|last=Pope|first=John|date=April 5, 2017|title=Lolis Elie, civil rights-era lawyer in New Orleans, dies at 89|work=NOLA.com|url=https://www.nola.com/news/politics/article_c403420d-64f7-520c-9715-e8d1aef6bbbc.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=March 21, 2021}}</ref><ref name=Massa1>{{Cite news|last=Massa|first=Dominic|date=April 4, 2017|title=Civil rights-era lawyer Lolis Edward Elie dies|work=WWL-TV|url=https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/civil-rights-era-lawyer-lolis-edward-elie-dies/289-428624625|access-date=March 21, 2021}}</ref><ref name=Massa2>{{Cite news|last=Massa|first=Dominic|date=April 8, 2017|title=Jazz funeral for civil rights lawyer Lolis Edward Elie|work=WWL-TV|url=https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/jazz-funeral-for-civil-rights-lawyer-lolis-edward-elie/289-429798869|access-date=March 21, 2021}}</ref><ref name=Welch>{{Cite news|last=Welch|first=Michael Patrick|date=April 10, 2017|title=Noted civil rights attorney, Lolis E. Elie, dies|work=The Louisiana Weekly|url=http://www.louisianaweekly.com/noted-civil-rights-attorney-lolis-e-elie-dies/|access-date=March 21, 2021}}</ref>

== Early life and education == In 1951, Elie was drafted into the army, where he planned to become a lawyer if he got out alive. Two years later, in 1953, Elie traveled to Washington D.C., where he attended Howard University. He was able to attend undergraduate classes through the GI Bill's benefits and subsidies because he had served in the army before. He then transferred to Dillard University in order to complete his undergraduate degree and received his law degree from Loyola University of New Orleans in 1959. Prior to his career as a lawyer, however, Elie worked by shining shoes and waiting tables for money, which he used to pay for tuition at Loyola.<ref name=Davis>{{cite interview |last=Elie |first=Lolis Edward |date=November 16, 2012 |title=Making Modern New Orleans |url=https://docstudio.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/transcript-elielolissr-mmno-2012-1.pdf |interviewer-last1=Davis |interviewer-first1=Jack |interviewer-last2=Nystrom |interviewer-first2=Justin |location=New Orleans |publisher=Digital Humanities Studio, Loyola University New Orleans, Department of History |access-date=2026-05-18}}</ref>

== Early career == Shortly after graduating, Elie began to defend and speak for the rights of individuals who had been arrested with lower-level felonies, but he soon decided to focus on the Civil Rights Movement. He supported civil rights organizations and movements, collaborating with his law classmate Nils Douglas, who was the only other African American in the graduating class of 1959 at Loyola, and his colleague Robert "Bob" Collins to create a legal practice together. Elie's career lasted about four decades, with prominent cases of his including the ''Lombard v. Louisiana'' case, which was heard in the United States Supreme Court.<ref>[https://docstudio.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/transcript-elielolissr-mmno-2012-1.pdf Elie 2012, p. 2]</ref>

== Prominent cases == The ''Lombard v. Louisiana'' case began because of a boycott on Dryades Street in New Orleans. There, boycotters agreed to picket outside the stores on the street for their cause, to eliminate segregation. African Americans were the main clientele of these stores, but recruiters refused to hire them. About ninety percent of the business the shops profited from on Dryades was from African Americans, resulting in the protest that was backed by lawyer Elie outside of the stores. This boycott was the preliminary demonstration for the Canal Street sit-in at McCrory's lunch counter.<ref>[https://docstudio.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/transcript-elielolissr-mmno-2012-1.pdf Elie 2012, p. 4]</ref>

Oretha Castle Haley, Leonard Goldfinch, Cecil Carter, and Rudy Lombard<ref>[https://docstudio.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/transcript-elielolissr-mmno-2012-1.pdf Elie 2012, p. 5]</ref> led the sit-in protest in 1960 at the lunch counter in McCrory's Five and Ten Cent Store. Part of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), they were attempting to combat the segregation of whites and blacks, with Lombard as the local president of the organization. The sit-in resulted in all four being apprehended because of New Orleans' decision to prohibit sit-ins. After being arrested, CORE requested Elie and his practice to represent them in court. The case was eventually brought to the United States Supreme Court, where ''Lombard v. Louisiana'' occurred. The final court decision determined that laws banning sit-ins were unconstitutional, siding with Elie and his firm.<ref name=Warren>{{cite interview |last=Elie |first=Lolis |date=February 2, 1964 |title=Robert Collins, Nils Douglas, and Lolis Elie |url=https://whospeaks.library.vanderbilt.edu/interview/robert-collins-nils-douglas-and-lolis-elie. |work=Who Speaks for the Negro? |interviewer-last=Warren |interviewer-first=Robert Penn |interviewer-link=Robert Penn Warren |location=Nashville, Tennessee |publisher=Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, Vanderbilt University |access-date=2026-05-18}}</ref>

== Additional work == On top of supporting boycotts in New Orleans, Elie also participated in organizing and assigning lawyers to cases regarding the Freedom Riders. He represented CORE for multiple years in both Louisiana and parts of Mississippi. Later, in 1961, Elie, along with six other Freedom Rider supporters, spoke with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy told them to shift their efforts away from the rides and instead to focus on a different cause.<ref>{{cite interview |last=Elie |first=Lolis E. |date=December 1, 1992 |title=Oral history interview with Lolis E. Elie, 1992 |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-06ch-m232 |work=Lawyers Who Went South oral history collection |interviewer-last=Hilbink |interviewer-first=Thomas M. |location=New York |publisher=Oral History Archives at Columbia |access-date=2026-05-18}}</ref>

== Legacy == Elie is credited as a major force in the fight to desegregate New Orleans, handling many significant cases in the local process.

== Personal life == Elie was Catholic, and buried in a Catholic funeral at St Augustine Catholic Church.

His son is writer, documentary filmmaker, and food historian Lolis Eric Elie, and his daughter Migel Elizabeth Elie was a medical doctor.<ref name=Massa1 />

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elie, Lolis Edward}} Category:1930 births Category:2017 deaths Category:20th-century American lawyers Category:20th-century Roman Catholics Category:21st-century American lawyers Category:21st-century Roman Catholics Category:African-American Catholics Category:American civil rights lawyers Category:American Roman Catholics Category:Catholics from Louisiana Category:Lawyers from New Orleans Category:Roman Catholic activists