Bro. Jeff L. Greenup, Esq. was born March 24, 1919 in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.  He was raised in a family that were staunch civil rights activists.

Bro. Greenup’s decision to pursue a life in the legal field occurred when he was 13 years old. The event that set him down this path was when he and his father, Deacon Wallace Jacob Greenup were arrested for objecting to a powerful Baton Rouge businessman who tried to cheat them by not paying the agreed upon price for the Greenup’s produce.  They were represented by Attorney A.P. Tureaud, who was called “Mr. NAACP” in Louisiana.  The tenacity in which Mr. Tureaud represented the Greenup’s was an inspiration to the young Bro. Greenup.

Due to continued harassment after the trials, Deacon Greenup decided to send his son to New Orleans where he could continue his studies.  Bro. Greenup was later drafted into the U.S. Army were he would spend over 4 years serving the U.S. government.  28 of those months were spent in World War II combat zones such as China, Burma and India.

Upon his release from the Army, Bro. Greenup moved to New York City where he would attend Long Island University and receive his B.S. degree in 1948.  He then continued his scholarly attainments which resulted in him receiving a law degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1951.  Thus began his career as a lawyer.

Bro. Greenup began his long dedicated career as an attorney in private practice. He formed the law firm of Mack, McFadden & Greenup.  Around the same time he organized the United Nations law firm of Greenup, Schimmel, Golar & Levister. This firm consisted of 4 partners and fourteen associates and included a universal ethnic make-up of partners and associates. Bro. Greenup was the chief litigator for this firm in the areas of criminal defense and civil rights.

Bro. Greenup also served as legal counsel to the Harlem Urban Development Corporation as well as the President of the New York Branch of the NAACP for six consecutive terms.  He has litigated numerous cases involving violations of civil rights.  Most famous was the successful win of the Clifford Glover case were a ten year black youth was killed by a New York City police officer. 

Bro. Greenup also represented Dr. Martin Luther King and his supporters in St. Augustine, Florida when they were jailed for voter registration and civil rights activities.  Ironically, during this stay in Florida, an 11 year old boy saved Dr. King’s life.  The boy warned Bro. Greenup and others of a plot to throw dynamite into Dr. King’s tent at midnight.  Dr. King was placed in other quarters and shortly after midnight a stick of dynamite was thrown into the tent.

Bro. Jeff L. Greenup has many outstanding accomplishments.  He is a founding board member of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, recipient of numerous awards including the Wiley A. Branton Award from the National Bar Association and the Ming Advocacy Award from the NYC NAACP as well as the Valor Award from the NAACP.

A dedicated Civil Rights attorney who tried many of his cases on a pro-bono basis and member of Kappa Omicron Chapter in Harlem, Bro. Greenup has represented the NAACP, CORE and SNCC as well as many, many others. 

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