A Wayne State University Law School alumnus is honoring Professor Emeritus Edward J. Littlejohn's work and impact by establishing the Edward J. Littlejohn Scholar Endowed Fund to support the research efforts of a named Wayne Law faculty member.

"It's a privilege to honor Professor Littlejohn after all these years," said Fred Harring '97, who created the endowment. "His teaching and example had an immediate impact on me and so many others, and his influence resonates to this day."

Littlejohn, one of the nation's foremost experts on African American legal history, played an instrumental role in the implementation of the Detroit Police Commission. In 1993, he established the Damon J. Keith Collection of African American Legal History, the country's first and only archive dedicated to the perpetual care of the papers, artifacts, and memorabilia of African American legal history.

Littlejohn graduated second in his class from the Detroit College of Law in 1970, after receiving an array of scholarships and awards. The college made him a member of its faculty immediately upon graduation, an appointment seldom made within the field of American legal education. Two years later, he joined the Wayne Law faculty as associate dean and served as a professor until 1996. Littlejohn also attended the graduate law program at Columbia University, earning his LL.M. in 1974, and a J.S.D. in 1982, the highest degree awarded in legal education.

In 2016, Littlejohn was inducted into the inaugural class of the Wayne Law Alumni Wall of Fame. That same year, The Journal of Law in Society celebrated him with a symposium, "A Tribute to Professor Emeritus Edward J. Littlejohn and His Work with Race, Racism, and the Law."