Two Fordham Law graduates are among a select group of Fulbright fellows to receive a new award named for a civil rights icon.
Connie Ticho (LAW ’24) and Nate Johnson (LAW ’22) earned the Fulbright-John Lewis Civil Rights Fellowship, a supplementary award for Fulbright U.S. Student Program awardees studying nonviolent movements around the world.
In addition to the benefits of the standard Fulbright fellowship, they’ll receive additional opportunities, including a lecture series, leadership training, and professional development opportunities. Fordham is one of only three universities nationwide to produce more than one Fulbright-John Lewis fellow.
Protecting Human Rights in South Africa
Ticho, who uses they/them pronouns, is headed to South Africa, where they’ll be researching Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), a legal framework that shows promise for protecting mining communities against human rights violations.
“FPIC demands that communities have agency over how their land is developed,” said Ticho. “A lot of mining communities are very poor and there are also a lot of health issues, because of poor mine closure and regulations. So I’m looking at how this principle could be codified within the legal system there.”
They will be working in collaboration with the University of Pretoria Center for Human Rights, as well as a South African NGO called Lawyers for Human Rights. Ticho’s first priority is supporting local advocates, who’ve faced violence and death threats.
“I feel privileged … to go do this research and to create a tool to leave behind with activists, so they can focus on their advocacy,” they said.
Envisioning Justice Beyond Incarceration
Johnson recently started his Fulbright fellowship in Belfast, where he’s pursuing a Master of Laws in Human Rights Law and Transitional Justice at Ulster University. He’s studying non-carceral solutions to human rights violations, specifically those that arose during the decades-long period of violence in Northern Ireland called “The Troubles.”
A former tenants rights attorney, Johnson is interested in exploring how helping people meet basic needs could mitigate violence. He plans to study how emphasizing positive rights—like access to housing—could be a way of responding to harmful situations before they occur, rather than reacting punitively after the fact.
He credits his mentor, Fordham Law professor Chi Adanna Mgbako, with supporting his success. “I cannot thank her enough for all the help she’s given me in figuring out what I’m doing, whether it’s personal or professional,” he said.
Big Shoes to Fill
The Fulbright-John Lewis Fellowship honors the legacy of John Lewis, a politician and civil rights activist who led the first Selma-to-Montgomery march and helped to organize the March on Washington alongside Martin Luther King Jr. A member of the Democratic Party, Lewis served in the House of Representatives from 1987 until his death in 2020.
For Johnson, earning a fellowship named for Lewis was a humbling experience. “I mean, his amazing legacy of nonviolent activism, of refusing to compromise on his values to the point of changing those of America … I was nervous to even associate myself with that legacy by applying,” he said. “But then I got it, and I still feel a little bit of hesitation about that, but I also feel really excited.”
