Political and Social Activism
In the 1940s, he was active in the fair housing movement, serving on several public bodies devoted to the subject. He presciently warned against the creation of large housing projects, advocating a more scattered approach instead. He also campaigned for the admission of African Americans to the local bar association.
In 1969, he was elected to the Illinois Constitutional Convention, where he chaired the committee on its Bill of Rights, working closely with the committee's legal counsel, Dallin H. Oaks. It has been called the strongest bill of rights of any state constitution at that point in time. A decade later, he chaired the equivalent committees of the Illinois and Chicago bar associations. He also served as chairman of the Lawyers' Association. After his death, the state bar created the Elmer Gertz Award for exceptional dedication to protecting civil liberties.
He received Israel's Prime Minister's Medal in 1972 for his service on that country's behalf, and considered that his finest accomplishment.
"Things do change for the better," he assured some students near the end of his life, "very, very slowly."
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