Judge Myron Thompson SHares Tuskegee’s Hidden Figures and Their Impact on the Eradication of Polio
Rotarian Bill Pryor and President Gordon Martin with Judge Thompson
This week the Rotary Club of Birmingham welcomed Myron Thompson, U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Alabama. He discussed Tuskegee's Hidden Figures and their impact on the development of the polio vaccine that has been key to the near eradication the disease.
Judge Thompson relayed his experience contracting polio as a young child and the excellent treatment he received at Tuskegee’s Infantile Paralysis Center at John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital. In an era when Black children were often turned away or provided with subpar treatment, Judge Thompson shared that Tuskegee’s facility was the only place in the U.S. built specifically to treat Black children with polio. He explained Tuskegee’s role in the propagation and mass distribution of HeLa cells to test the effectiveness of the polio vaccine. Judge Thompson celebrated Rotary’s role in distributing the vaccine worldwide to bring about the near eradication of the devastating disease.
Judge Thompson detailed the efforts of Rotary District 6860 to raise funds to erect a bronze statue in 2022 depicting the doctor who treated Judge Thompson, a nurse, and a polio patient in front of the old Infantile Paralysis Center, where the Legacy Museum now stands. Rotary Magazine recently published a feature on Judge Thompson, the efforts of the Black doctors and scientists at Tuskegee, and the district’s efforts to memorialize the important piece of Alabama history. Judge Thompson shared that he hopes people will remember all the good that took place at the institute where he was treated and how important the contributions were.
“I’m here to show my deep appreciation to this organization for not only its worldwide effort to eradicate polio from the face of the earth,” said Judge Thompson. ”But closer to my heart, what it did in Tuskegee, Alabama, the place where I grew up, in placing a monument there commemorating the role a Black cadre of doctors and other medical staff played in the development of a vaccine that would successfully eradicate polio from this country and from most of the world. A story about the acts of Black Alabamians that, until this organization uncovered it, was literally forgotten history.”
Click here to watch a video produced by Rotary International for World Polio Day video featuring Judge Thompson.
About Myron Thompson
Judge Thompson is a graduate of Yale College (B.A. 1969) and Yale Law School (J.D. 1972). He served as an Assistant Attorney General of Alabama from 1972 to 1974. He was the first African-American Assistant Attorney General for the State of Alabama, the first African-American bar examiner for the State, and the second African-American federal judge in the State. Judge Thompson was in private practice from 1974 until 1980. He was a Founding Director and Board Chairman of the Alabama Legal Services Corporation.
Judge Thompson has contributed to the development of legal scholarship by serving as Jurist in Residence at Pace Law School in 2012, delivering the Dean’s Lecture at Yale Law School in 2004, and serving as a New York University Law School Scholar in Residence in 1998 and 1999. He was the Eleventh Circuit’s District Judge Representative on the Judicial Conference of the United States from 2007 through 2011 and was chair of the District Judges Representatives to the Conference from 2010 through 2011. As Chief Judge, he was instrumental in preserving the Montgomery bus station where the Freedom Riders were attacked in 1961 and in establishing the Freedom Rides Museum.
In May 2022, Yale University awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree to Judge Thompson and stated, “Audacious advocate and learned legal scholar, you have made justice both a career and a calling. In the courtroom, you tenaciously defend equity, liberty and dignity for all; in the classroom, you teach others to walk the same path. Your long service to your home state inspires us; your commitment to your alma mater humbles us. As a testament to your impact, and with the utmost pleasure, we award you your third Yale degree, Doctor of Laws.” In 2017, for having made a substantial contribution to public service and the legal profession, Judge Thompson received the Yale Law School Award of Merit, the highest award the law school may give to a graduate and faculty member. He was also named a 2017 Alabama Humanities Foundation fellow in honor of his noteworthy achievements and commitment to the advancement of the humanities in Alabama. In 2015, Judge Thompson received the National Public Service Award from Stanford Law School, in recognition that his “work on behalf of the public has had national impact.” In 2013, he was awarded the Thurgood Marshall Award by the National Bar Association’s Judicial Council in recognition of his “personal contributions and extraordinary commitment to the advancement of civil rights and for being a role model for members of the bench and bar.” He received the 2005 Mark De Wolfe Howe Award from the Harvard Civil Rights - Civil Liberties Law Review “for his Unyielding Commitment to Advancing the Personal Freedoms and Human Dignities of the American People.” In 2008, he received the Judge Jane M. Bolin Service Award from the Yale Law School BLSA in recognition of his “Outstanding Dedication and Support to Yale BLSA and Contributions to the Legal Community.” Thomas Goode Jones Law School awarded him an honorary J.D. degree in 2010 and the Ernestine Sapp Justice Award in 2009. In 2009 he also received an Honoree Award from the Touro Law School BLSA.
In September 2022, in celebration of Judge Thompson’s four decades on the bench, former President Jimmy Carter, in a letter, “commended” Judge Thompson for his “enduring commitment to fairness, civil rights, and protecting the rule of law,” and observed that he has “emerged as a national leader in the effort to guarantee that all litigants receive equal justice before the law.”
Judge Thompson and his wife have three sons.