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L. Clifford Davis, a Fort Worth legal dynamo who stood at the forefront of civil rights and the desegregation of public schools, died Saturday at the age of 100. Davis spent his lifetime advocating for fairness and civil rights after growing up in the heavily segregated South and experiencing racism firsthand growing up in Arkansas.“This legendary figure was a giant pillar of our community — one who was on the battlefield fighting for justice for more than 70 years,” The Fort Worth Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce said in a statement. “He leaves behind a body of work that shall forever be a part of this city’s and this country’s history.” At an event honoring him in 2015, Davis spoke about his view of freedom and the responsibility it carries. “Our Constitution talks about liberty and justice and freedom for all,” he told the crowd at the Fort Worth Business Press Power Attorneys event. “It is an evolutionary process because it has been expanded — originally it did not extend to all. Now it has evolved to the point where it extends to all, and we have been advocates for equal opportunity for education for progress for all people without regard to sex, race, ethnicity or their socioeconomic level. “And I believe that it is the duty of every individual to respect every other individual without regard to age, sex, race or socioeconomic level. I believe that to be what I call civil responsibility. I hope all of us carry into our conversation civil responsibility in our private lives, in our homes, our workplace and those of us that are public officials will carry that into public policy for the general welfare of the total population.”Born Oct. 12, 1924, Davis grew up the son of a sharecropper in Wilton, Arkansas. His parents moved him with his older siblings to Little Rock, where he graduated from high school. After earning a bachelor’s degree, he studied economics while waiting for admission to the then all-white University of Arkansas School of Law. Davis eventually received his law degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 1949. He practiced law in Arkansas until 1952, then relocated to Waco, teaching at Paul Quinn College until 1954. He worked with Justice Thurgood Marshall on the landmark case, Brown vs. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas, that eventually led to school desegregation.In Fort Worth, Davis represented five Black students who were barred from attending Mansfield High School in 1955. They sued Mansfield ISD and won in 1956. When his clients attempted to enter the school, they were met by a mob. Eventually Mansfield ISD and Fort Worth ISD integrated, largely because of lawsuits and pressure from Davis. An elementary school at Fort Worth ISD now bears his name. Davis opened one of the first Black law firms in Tarrant County and was one of the county’s first Black judges.He funded scholarships and paid tuition bills for young people looking to study law. He married Ethel R. Davis, a retired Fort Worth school teacher, who died in 2015 after 59 years of marriage. He is survived by two adult daughters, Avis and Karen Davis. Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.