Michael Middleton (center) was honored with the Legacy Awardat the University of Missouri Black Law Students Association 40th Annual Lloyd L. Gaines Scholarship Banquet on Saturday, February 28, 2026. He is surrounded by some of the law school graduates he taught over his long tenure as the first Black law professor at Mizzou. They are, from left, Arsenio Mims of Dowd Bennett LLP, Judge Renee Hardin-Timmons,(Keynote speaker) Missouri Court of Appeals, Ron Norwood of Lewis Rice, Kim Norwood, law professor at Washington University Law School, Middleton, Tracy Berry, great-niece of Lloyd Gaines and former Assistant U. S. Attorney in St. Louis, Marc Middleton of Evans & Dixon, Mavis Thompson, St. Louis City License Collector, and Eric Banks of Banks Law LLC.
Ninety years after Lloyd Gaines was denied admission to the University of Missouri School of Law because he was African American, his great-niece, Tracy Berry (in blue), is deeply involved in producing a new documentary, “Searching for Lloyd Gaines”
For more information on the documentary go to www.lloydgainesmovie.com.