After serving in the U.S. Army, USAID, and the Peace Corps and earning a law degree from Yale University, he worked at a law firm and then taught at Howard University School of Law from 1976 until his retirement in the mid-2000s. He taught hundreds of students who went on to serve in the judiciary, law enforcement, elected office, philanthropy and the corporate world. In the 1990s, Thornell helped launch the Howard University Republic of South Africa Partnership with the newly established government in South Africa. Thornell and other Howard leaders traveled to South Africa to provide counsel to President Nelson Mandela’s administration on the design of the country’s constitution. Du Bois biographer David Levering Lewis, who met Thornell when they both matriculated at Fisk as 15-year-olds.

Source: Washington Post May 11, 2020 22:04 UTC