The NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund announced its fifth cohort of the Marshall-Motley Scholars Program this week and among the recipients is a former master’s student from the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies.
Jayla Allan MA ’22 is among the 10 recipients of the award, which is named for Legal Defense Fund pioneers Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley and – according to the group’s website – is intended to “equip the South with the next generation of highly skilled civil rights lawyers dedicated to providing legal advocacy of unparalleled excellence in the pursuit of racial justice.”
Among several provisions, the award includes a full law school scholarship covering tuition, room and board, and incidentals to eliminate the financial barriers to pursuing careers in civil rights law.
Allen, a third-generation Texan, graduated from Prairie View A&M University with a bachelor’s in Political Science and Legal Studies, and a master’s in African American-African Diaspora Studies from Columbia University. Her academic research focused on the impacts of public policy on formerly incarcerated minorities, building upon her family’s multi-generational commitment to advocacy and service throughout Texas.
