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Dissertation Information for Kristoffer Shepard

NAME:
- Kristoffer Shepard

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (2001)

ADVISORS:
- Dan T. Carter

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Leroy Davis Jr
- David J. Garrow

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: Poverty lawyers and poor people in the Deep South, 1965--1996

Abstract: This dissertation examines the creation, expansion, and contraction of federally funded legal services programs in the Deep South states of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi from 1965 to 1996. These programs, initially funded by the Office of Economic Opportunity, were the product of President Lyndon Johnson's "war on poverty." The Deep South saw the creation of several such programs during the 1960s, but much of the region's low-income population had little access to legal counsel until the creation of the Legal Services Corporation in the 1970s and its expanded funding under the Carter administration. While their growth stalled as a result of funding cuts and political opposition during the Reagan and Clinton administrations, legal services programs continue to provide counsel to millions of low-income clients each year.

The history of "poverty lawyers" (the attorneys who worked for legal services programs) and their clients provides insight into 1960s liberalism and its impact on public policy, as well as the conservative backlash that gained momentum during the Nixon and Reagan administrations. Legal services programs survived this ebb and flow of American politics, as well as the peculiarities of southern politics, but political events have constantly reshaped these institutions. Moreover, the experiences of poverty lawyers and poor people in the Deep South fit within a broader trend in American legal history, that of the steady reduction of legal pluralism throughout the United States. In sum, poverty lawyers helped assimilate poor people into American legal culture.

MPACT Scores for Kristoffer Shepard

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-02-03 00:09:27

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Students under Kristoffer Shepard

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None