The Carl Maxey Diversity Scholarship

Carl Maxey: Gonzaga Law graduate, warrior for justice

Carl Maxey, 1965 courtesy The Spokesman-Review

Born out of wedlock and orphaned at age two, when his adoptive parents died, Carl Maxey battled against the odds to become Eastern Washington's first black lawyer and one of the state's civil rights leaders.

Maxey was expelled from Spokane's only orphanage at age 11, when the home's board of directors voted to bar "colored children" from the facility.

A yen for boxing brought Maxey to the attention of a group of Spokane businessmen, who paid for his education at Oregon State University and Gonzaga, where he became the 1950 lightweight collegiate boxing champion.

Maxey enjoyed a long and illustrious career, during which he never forgot his origins, or those who still suffered from injustice.

Download the scholarship application (pdf)

Learn more about Carl Maxey:

The Lives They Lived: Carl Maxey; Type-A Gandhi
A New York Times profile by writer Timothy Egan

Carl Maxey: A Fighting Life
The definitive biography of Carl Maxey, written by Spokane journalist Jim Kershner.