William Colbert Keady

William Colbert Keady (April 2, 1913 – June 16, 1989) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. Keady is best known for his role in the landmark court case, Gates v. Collier.

Early life William Colbert Keady was born on April 2, 1913, in Greensville, Mississippi. His parents were Mary Augusta and Michael John Keady. His mother died on his sixteenth birthday, and his father died roughly two years later. Keady served in that capacity until his death in Jackson, Mississippi, on June 16, 1989, at age 76.

As a federal judge, Keady enforced desegregation plans that were favored by the Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge William Keady decided the case qualified as a class action under federal guidelines.

The Mississippi Delta's penitentiary, Parchman Farm, serves as a vital depiction of racial brutality in America post-Civil war. Parchman is known as “... the quintessential penal farm, the closest thing to slavery that survived the Civil War." The Fifth Circuit ended up agreeing with the lower court's earlier decision, resulting in the abolishment of racial segregation of inmates as well as the trusty system.

Legacy Keady died in a Jackson hospital on June 16, 1989, at age 76. The Clarion-Ledger described him as a man of “vision and courage in the ranks of the federal judiciary” who “shaped a better Mississippi."