The distinctive AFPAA award recognizes Ford as a trailblazer who has transformed academia and opened doors for generations to come. It honors a career embodying resilience, brilliance, and a lifelong commitment to justice and inclusion.

Through her scholarship, legal advocacy, and mentorship, Ford has expanded opportunities for students of color, challenged systemic inequities, and redefined the standard of leadership in higher education.

From shaping curricula centered on social justice and critical legal theory, to litigating landmark cases advancing the rights of Native American tribes, artists, athletes, and marginalized communities, her work exemplifies courage and innovation. Beyond the courtroom and classroom, her lifelong mentorship of students—especially first-generation and underrepresented law students—stands as a profound gift to the profession and to society.

Ford began her legal career breaking barriers as one of the first Black women attorneys to work for a Wall Street Law firm, while also giving back by volunteering evenings and weekends and working for Harlem Assertion of Rights.

To follow her passion for giving back and helping people improve their lives, Ford left the practice of law in 1977 to become full-time law professor. She became a trailblazer as the only Black person on the law school faculty of the institution which would become Quinnipiac University School of Law.

“Over the past 48 years at Quinnipiac, I have enjoyed the privilege of being a scholar, attorney, mother, and activist. Most of all, I have enjoyed the privilege of being able to educate and help shape the lives of students, especially those who were first-generation law students,” Ford said.

At Quinnipiac, Ford teaches doctrinal classes where she emphasizes the role of lawyers in the pursuit of truth and justice. She continues to take cases, including many pro bono cases, with the intimate involvement of her students as research assistants. She counseled a Ledyard, Connecticut-based Native American tribe in the Oneida Indian Land Claim, the largest Native American land claim case in the United States. Ford also represented the Eyak Tribe of southeastern Alaska to save its ancestral land and preserve its heritage and culture.

Quinnipiac School of Law Dean Brian Gallini said Ford’s legacy is woven into the very fabric of the law school.

“As a founding faculty member, Professor Marilyn Ford has not only helped shape our institution but also inspired generations of lawyers through her unwavering commitment to justice, equity, and inclusion. Her mentorship has opened doors for countless students, and her impact on the legal community continues to resonate today,” Gallini said.

Western New England University Professor of Law Dr. Bridgette Baldwin presented the 2025 Legacy Award to Ford on November 8, during the 9th annual AAFPAA Crown & Gown Gala in Northampton, Massachusetts.

“As one of the founding professors of Quinnipiac Law, Professor Ford helped build a prestigious institution from the ground up. Her pioneering spirit established the school’s enduring commitment to diversity, social justice, and community engagement. Through her innovative approach to legal education, weaving real-world issues and experiential learning into the classroom, she has transformed how students experience the law, setting new standards in legal scholarship and inclusion,” said Baldwin.

Ford’s excellence has earned national recognition, including being named to the Northeast Black Law Students Association’s 57 Most Influential Black Attorneys Class of 2025.
During her remarkable career spanning a wide and impactful range of work, Ford’s advocacy has always centered on the guiding principle of accessible justice for all, Baldwin said. Beyond her courtroom and classroom achievements, Ford’s legacy lives through her mentorship.

“She has guided and supported countless students, particularly first-generation law students and students of color — helping them find their voices, pursue their purpose, and break barriers of their own. Many of her mentees have gone on to become leaders in law, government, and advocacy, continuing her legacy of courage and compassion,” said Baldwin.

From her beginnings as one of only a few Black students at the University of Iowa College of Law in 1969, to her role today as a distinguished professor, scholar, and advocate, Ford has embodied resilience, brilliance, and grace at every turn, Baldwin said.

“Her story is one of perseverance in the face of adversity, a testament to what it means to lead not just with knowledge, but with truth, vulnerability, and unwavering faith in the power of education,” Baldwin said. “For her decades of extraordinary service, her transformative leadership, and her lifelong commitment to justice, mentorship, and inclusion, we are honored to present the 2025 Legacy Award to Professor Marilyn J. Ford.”

Ford said she was humbled and honored to receive the reward. She reflected on her journey, those who inspired her, and the impactful accomplishments of a life’s work to help the underserved and open the door for others.

Ford said her education began as “…a poor country girl of sharecroppers in an all-Black, one-room schoolhouse with no indoor plumbing,” in Fitzhugh, Arkansas. Attending all-Black schools in low-income, inner-city St. Louis, Missouri, Ford said she was taught by committed all-Black teachers who insisted their students learn the stories of those who fought to earn their freedom and rights.

Ford said she was inspired by the courageous efforts of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman and deeply impacted by the sacrifices of uncelebrated women and men in the struggle to attain civil rights and equal justice under law in America.

“By teaching about truth and vulnerability, the teachers inspired me to become the first in my entire family line to graduate from high school and then to attend community college when I did not have the money to attend a four-year college,” said Ford.

After completing two years at community college, Ford transferred to Southern Illinois University, graduating with a BA in Economics. She enrolled in the University of Iowa Law School, later transferring to study law at Rutgers University.

“At both Iowa and Rutgers, I was taught and mentored by professors who encouraged me to become a persuasive legal advocate for civil liberties, social justice, and protection of historically marginalized people.  Those professors included former United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Arthur Kinoy, a founder of the Law Center for Constitutional Rights and the National Lawyers Guild,” Ford said.

In her 48 years of teaching and mentorship of Quinnipiac law students, Ford said she has encouraged legal careers of lawyers dedicated to equal rights and civil liberties.

“I hope that I have elevated the need, the moral imperative, for lawyers to be part of efforts to dismantle systems of injustice that continue to marginalize people,” Ford said. “I hope that my work over the years as a professor has produced lawyers who will stand up, like Frederick Douglass, and speak truth to power; and lawyers who are willing to become vulnerable, like Harriet Tubman, to take action to protect rights secured in the past and provide services that are necessary to protect fundamental rights and liberties, including voting rights, education, employment, healthcare, housing, economic, free speech and other challenges that we face today.”