Theodore Segal

Background

About Theodore Segal

Theodore D. Segal is a lawyer and has served as an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. Now retired from private law practice, Segal returned to the study of black and white student activism at Duke in the Sixties, events that he began studying as an undergraduate at the university. Segal’s book, POINT OF RECKONING: The Fight for Racial Justice at Duke University, narrates the story of the fraught and contested fight for racial justice at Duke, from the enrollment of the first black undergraduates in 1963 to the developments that led to the takeover of key areas of the university’s main administration building in 1969. The culmination of years of research, the book was published by Duke University Press in February 2021. Segal currently teaches a class on the Sixties at Duke for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Duke. Throughout his career, Segal has been extensively involved in pro bono legal activities and work on behalf of non-profit organizations. He is currently on the Library Advisory Board at Duke University and was previously a member of the board for the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke and board chair of the Children’s Law Center, the largest provider of pro bono legal services in the District of Columbia. Segal also served on the boards of the National Archives Foundation, Junior Achievement of Greater Washington, the Jewish Museum of Maryland, and as a member of the Federal City Council. During his legal career, Segal provided corporate counsel for large institutional clients, many closely held businesses, and numerous individuals. The Legal Times selected him as one of the Top 10 “Dealmakers” in Washington, D.C. In multiple years, he was named a Washington, D.C, Super Lawyer® by a vote of his peers, and was selected by SmartCEO magazine as a member of its “Legal Elite.” He served in various management positions at his law firm, including as managing partner of a 175-lawyer D.C. office. He lives in Maryland. To learn more about my book POINT OF RECKONING, visit my website at To learn more about my OLLI course the SIXTIES AT DUKE, visit the course website at Banner Images Courtesy of Duke University Archives