William H. Hastie '25 Scholarship Fund

The William H. Hastie ‘25 Scholarship Fund was established in 1976 by Karen Hastie Williams and William H. Hastie, Jr. ’68 in honor of their father, the late Honorable William H. Hastie ’25. Judge Hastie, one of the College’s most distinguished alumni, served as Dean of Howard University Law School, Governor of the Virgin Islands, Trustee of Amherst College (1962-76), co-founder of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, among other positions. With Thurgood Marshall, who had been his law student, he helped shape the strategy that ultimately dismantled legal segregation, as the result of the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision of 1954. The William H. Hastie ’25 Scholarship is awarded to an Amherst student with demonstrated financial need, with preference for promising black students.