Vanzetti Morris Hamilton (1927-1991)

From the Battle Creek Inquirer, July 15, 1963.

  A pioneer black lawyer in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Vanzetti Hamilton was a graduate of Wayne State University Law School in 1957, and was active in Democratic political circles in Washtenaw County, being an alternate delegate to the Democratic National Convention from Michigan in 1968 and 1972. In the latter period of his life, Hamilton was named to the board of trustees of Washtenaw Community College, serving until his death. While details on Hamilton's career in the public forum remain largely obscure, a recorded interview he gave (in the possession of the Ypsilanti Public Library) has yielded many details on his career that would have otherwise remained unknown. The son of George and Sarah (Shuford) Hamilton, Vanzetti Morris Hamilton was born in Detroit, Michigan on August 19, 1927.

  Hamilton's unusual first name may have a connection to Italian immigrant Bartolomeo Vanzetti, who, along with partner Nicolo Sacco, was controversially tried and convicted of a robbery and double murder that occurred at the Slater and Morrill Shoe Company in Braintree, Massachusetts. The duo's subsequent trial became a cause célèbre amongst many notable figures of the time, who charged anti-immigrant and anti-Italian sentiment as the motivating factor behind their conviction in July 1921. The duo was later sentenced to die in the electric chair, the sentence being carried out in August 1927. Bartolomeo Vanzetti's execution, which occurred August 23, was just four days after Vanzetti Hamilton's birth, which strengthens the possibility that he was named after him. Subsequent decades revealed their conviction to be largely circumstantial, and on the 50th anniversary of their execution Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation detailing that the duo had not received a fair trial, noting "that any disgrace should forever be removed from their names."

  Following his family's settlement in Ypsilanti in the 1930s, Hamilton attended Ypsilanti High School, where he excelled in oratory. In addition to his membership in the Ypsi choristers and band, he was a member of the school's debate club, was class orator, and placed 2nd in the American Legion oration. Following his graduation in 1945 Hamilton enrolled at the Eastern Michigan University, graduating in 1949. He subsequently followed a teaching career in the Willow Run school district and earned a master's degree in speech education. 

  In August 1952 Vanzetti Hamilton married in Battle Creek, Michigan to Arbra Jean Fullerton (1928-2006), a graduate of Cleary College. The couple were wed for nearly forty years and had four children, Mark, Lawrence, John, and Laura.

  After leaving the teaching profession in 1954 Hamilton decided upon a career in law, enrolling at Wayne State University Law School. The editor of the Wayne Law Journal during his junior year, he earned his degree in 1957 and would establish his practice in Ypsilanti. First practicing law out of his home, Hamilton removed his practice to downtown Ypsilanti sometime later, locating his office above a theater. Early in his career, Hamilton took part in the investigation of housing irregularities in Willow Village, and as part of a delegation who had raised concerns, detailed that the Federal Housing Administration's regional office:

"Was not co-operating fully in the development of a low rent housing project for those who can't afford to buy Federal housing."

  By the mid-1960s Hamilton had achieved further distinction in Ypsilanti through his work with the local NAACP chapter and was a former president of the Ypsilanti Business and Professional League. In 1963 he served as president of the Ypsilanti Human Relations Commission, his full dates of service being unknown at this time. In February 1963 Hamilton was a featured speaker in the concluding ceremonies for Battle Creek, Michigan's Negro History Week, lecturing on "New Frontiers in Human Relations." In the same year as that lecture, Hamilton was defense counsel in the case of Quin McLoughlin, a professor of sociology at Eastern Michigan University who had been convicted following participation in a 24-hour sit-in at Ann Arbor City Hall. Though McLoughlin was convicted and fined, Hamilton subsequently "asked for 10 days grace in which to appeal." In addition to the above, Hamilton is recorded as having been influential in the desegregation of the Willow Run school system. 

From the Saline Reporter, May 23, 1962.

  Active in Democratic political circles in Ypsilanti beginning in the late 1950s, Hamilton made two unsuccessful runs for prosecuting attorney of Washtenaw County in 1962 and 1964. He later won a seat on the Michigan Democratic State Central Committee, being a representative from the 2nd district. In 1968 he was named as an alternate delegate from Michigan to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where Hubert Humphrey was nominated for the presidency. In 1972 he again served as a DNC delegate, with his candidate preference listed as "uncommitted." 

From the Saline Reporter, October 29, 1980.

   Hamilton's life after 1972 largely remains obscure. The senior partner in the Ypsilanti law firm of Hamilton and McDonald, he was active in the civic life of his community, being the treasurer of the Ypsilanti Area Salvation Army Advisory Board, and the Ypsilanti Area Chamber of Commerce. In 1980 he served as president of the Eastern Michigan University Alumni Association and held memberships in the Michigan and American Trial Lawyers Association, the Wolverine Bar Association, and the Commercial Law League of America.

  In 1980 Hamilton emerged as a candidate for the board of trustees for the Washtenaw Community College. He was elected in November of that year and served from 1981 until his death, which occurred in Ypsilanti on January 29, 1991. He was survived by his wife Arbra and four children, with a burial location for him being unknown at this time. Far from a forgotten figure in Ypsilanti, Vanzetti Hamilton was posthumously honored as the namesake of the Vanzetti Hamilton Bar Association in Washtenaw County, an African American bar organization founded after his death in 1991.