Personal Life
Melvyn Rosenman Leventhal is an American attorney known for his work as a community organizer and lawyer in the 1960s–70s civil rights movements. He is also famous as the husband of Alice Walker. She is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. Walker has published seventeen novels and short story collections, twelve non-fiction works, and collections of essays and poetry. Melvyn was born on 18 March 1948 in Brooklyn, New York City. Leventhal attended a yeshiva elementary school and Brooklyn Technical High School. He completed his graduation at Washington Square College in 1964. He received a J.D. from The New York University of School Law in 1967.
Melvyn R. Leventhal’s successful career
As a young lawyer, Leventhal worked in Mississippi for the NAACP Legal Defence Fund. He formed the first interracial law partnership in the state’s history, with Reuben V. Anderson, Fred L Banks jr, and John A. Nichols. Anderson and Banks went on to become the first two African American justices of the Mississippi Supreme Court. Leventhal met Alice Walker through his work. She came to trust and admire him due to his willingness to endanger his social status. They married on 17 March 1967. The marriage was illegal in Walker’s home state of Georgia. When the couple returned to Mississippi in July 1967, they were the first legally married interracial couple in the state. Walker and Leventhal had one child, Rebecca Walke. Leventhal served as LDF’s lead counsel in Mississippi from 1969 to 1974. He represented plaintiffs in approximately 75 lawsuits filed throughout the state to eliminate segregation and discrimination in public schools, employment, and public accommodations. After Leventhal moved back to New York in 1974, he continued to work for the LDF as a staff attorney. Three landmark cases highlighted his ten-year career at the LDF: Alexander v. Holmes Country Board of Education 396 U.S. 19. The Supreme Court of the United States brought to an end the era of all deliberate speed and ordered school districts to desegregate at once. Norwood v, Harison 413 U.S. 455 (1973). the Supreme Court of the United States held unconstitutional state textbook assistance to private schools that discriminate based on race.
Hawkins v. Town of Shaw 437 F.2d 1286 (5th Cir. 1971). The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld lawsuits, challenging racial discrimination in the provision of municipal services.
After returning to New York in 1974, he served first as the Assistant Attorney General of New York. He also served as the Deputy First Assistant Attorney General of New York and Chief of the Litigation Bureau. He remarried in 1974. Melvyn R. Leventhal is living a happy life with his family. He has a net worth of $3 million. As a millionaire, Leventhal loved to live a luxurious life. He has luxurious cars and a beautiful house. Leventhal is very active on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
