Amina Hassan presented and discussed her book Loren Miller: Civil Rights Attorney and Journalist on Feb. 29 at California State University, Northridge, in the last event in the campus’ series celebrating Black History Month.

Miller was a civil rights attorney and journalist from the 1940s through the early 1960s. He worked on cases of housing discrimination and argued alongside Thurgood Marshall in the Shelley v. Kraemer case before the United States Supreme Court. The landmark case held that courts could not enforce racial covenants on real estate.

“His reputation as a skilled and brilliant attorney grew from local prominence to national recognition,” Hassan said. “Miller became known as the go-to guy if you were turned away from an ice skating rink, a movie house or a restaurant [based on race].”

Judge Robin Miller Sloan, Miller’s granddaughter who is following in his footsteps, participated in the event.

Her grandfather was a lifelong defender “freedoms, principles and ideas,” Sloan said. “When my grandfather spoke on any subject, people listened.”

Sloan was only 7 years old when her grandfather passed away, but she said she still remembers him vividly. She shared one specific life lesson he taught her and her brother about being humble:

“No one is better than you, and you are no better than anyone,” Sloan said.

Delmar T. Oviatt Library, Events, Oviatt Library