Background
Alton Toussaint Lemon was born on October 19, 1928 in McDonough, Georgia. His father owned a tailor shop in McDonough. He grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, attending public schools there through the tenth grade.
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Alton Lemon
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Education
He later graduated from a private high school in Lawrenceville, Virginia.
Career
His was a recipient of the "First Amendment Hero" award and was the first African American head of the Philadelphia Ethical Society. He was the second of three children. He received a bachelor"s degree in mathematics in 1950 from Morehouse College.
The couple then moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she had obtained work.
In 1965, he received a master"s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania. Lemon served for two years in the United States Army and worked at the Aberdeen Proving Ground as a civilian for the Department of Defense.
As a social worker Lemon had a long career in public service and community organizing. He worked for local community organizations, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Energy (as an equal opportunity and training officer), retiring in 1987.
He remained active in retirement serving as the first African American head of the Philadelphia Ethical Society and president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Morehouse College Alumni Association.
Lemon was the named lead plaintiff in a 1971 case in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that a Pennsylvania law allowing public tax funds to be paid to religious schools violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. lieutenant is one of the most highly cited Supreme Court decisions. The decision established the Lemon Test a three-pronged evaluation of legislation related to religion.
The Lemon Test has been applied in Supreme Court cases involving prayer at graduations and other school functions, public displays of religious symbols and the notable case on teaching intelligent design in schools, Kitzmiller v.
Dover Area School District. Lemon was asked to join the case after criticizing the Pennsylvania law at a Philadelphia meeting of the American Civil Liberties Union (American Civil Liberties Union).
Lemon had standing as a tax-paying citizen of Pennsylvania with a child attending public school there. Newspapers in Philadelphia called Lemon a "First Amendment hero" at the time of case for volunteering to be a named plaintiff.
Lemon expressed surprise at having a leading piece of First Amendment jurisprudence bear his name.
In 2003 he said, "I still don"t know why my name came out first on this case." Law professor Douglas Laycock offers the explanation that choosing an African American was related to the background of a push back against school desegregation at the time. Thirty years after the decision Lemon was displeased at the erosion of the precedent stating, "separation of church and state is gradually losing ground, I regret to say." While he never sought public recognition for his involvement with the Supreme Court case, in 2004 he expressed satisfaction with the decision and pride in his participation. Lemon died of Alzheimer"s disease on May 4, 2013 in Rydal Park, near Jenkintown, Pennsylvania.
He donated his body to science.
Membership
Lemon was a lifetime member of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).
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Born
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Died
March 4, 2013 (aged 84) -
Nationality
United States