“I was at a point in my career where teaching appealed to me
because I could have the freedom to determine my own agenda and work on public issues,� Overton says.

Accepted as a Charles Hamilton Houston Fellow at Harvard, Overton worked on his legal research writing skills with Michelman and co-taught a course on “Law and the Political Process� with professor Lani Guinier. “It was a great experience� working with Michelman and others on the legal research and writing, he says.

“Spencer’s a self-starter. I’ve known him from the time he began law school,� Michelman says.

Overton’s life today, as a professor and a Harvard graduate,
contrasts starkly with the reality of his teen years. He is candid about the anger, alienation and deep confusion he experienced as a teen growing up in a middle-class home in Southfield, a suburb of Detroit. He took advanced courses in elementary and middle school, but began to drift away from academics. By eighth and ninth grade, Overton was struggling in school.

The young Overton sensed a strong racial divide and a prevalent indifference towards Black students at his school. Overton grew divided over his own social identity, preferring more and more the company of the “cool� Black students for whom academics were a low priority.

Despite finishing high school with a 1.8 GPA. Overton managed to gain admission to historically Black Hampton University, where he began to turn his life around. In his first semester, he had a 4.0 grade point average resulting from being inspired by his peers and professors to excel. “I felt like I could do well and fit in socially. [Hampton] deracialized the academic environment for me. It took race out of the equation.�

— By Ronald Roach