SEMO, Cape Central graduate selected for prestigious law program

A Southeast Missouri State University graduate is one of the newest recipients of a prominent scholarship geared toward those planning to practice civil rights law in the South.

Miracle Bird, who received her master’s degree from the university on Saturday, May 11, was named to the fourth cohort of the Marshall-Motley Scholars Program (MMSP) organized by the Legal Defense Fund (LDF).

Miracle, the daughter of Calvin and Carolyn Bird, is a native of Cape Girardeau and a Cape Central graduate.

Founded in 2021, the MMSP provides funding specifically for participants to have careers practicing civil rights law serving Black communities in 13 southern states.

The cohort, formed by individuals from nine states, was released Wednesday, May 1. This cohort is the fourth of five planned.

Laura Hatcher, chair of the Political Science, Philosophy and Religion Department at SEMO, first informed Bird of the opportunity.

“The reason why I applied is I’ve always been passionate about civil rights, and I’ve always wanted to do something that was service-based,” Bird said.

She also credited her family and faith with inspiring her to apply.

Bird completed the first part of her application online, writing two essays and completing additional video essays responding to prompts.

She and other finalists then traveled to Atlanta for in-person interviews with some of the top civil rights legal professionals in the country.

The scholarship is a 13-year commitment. Bird and the other scholars must spend three years as full-time law students, two years at a post-law school fellowship and eight years practicing civil rights law.

“In my interview, one of the questions was, ‘Are you prepared to make that commitment?’ and my answer to that was, ‘Most definitely,’ because I figured I was going to be doing this for the rest of my life anyway — so 13 years doesn’t really seem like a lot compared to a lifetime,” Bird said.

The scholarship provides numerous resources, including tuition for law school, summer internships and special training sponsored by the LDF. Bird will be attending Saint Louis University for law school.

“I’ve done a little bit of work in environmental justice with Renew Missouri, and that was just doing things like, down in the Bootheel area they had some racial justice issues involving the environment (and) pollution in disadvantaged communities,” Bird said. “So I thought about staying on that same path … but I’m also very open to doing pretty much anything. Where I see a need, I want to help.”

Bird said she intends to work in Missouri for the duration of the scholarship.

The MMSP is named in honor of LDF founder and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and civil rights litigator and former LDF attorney Constance Baker Motley.