Biographical Overview & Key Facts

Subject:

Johnnie Cochran

Role / Field:

Pioneering American defense attorney known for civil rights and high-profile celebrity defense.

Born:

1937-10-02

Died:

2005-03-29

Century / Era:

1937s Historical Era

Database Source:

2Day Chrono-Wiki & Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Origins & Early Life

Johnnie Lee Cochran Jr. ( KOK-rən; October 2, 1937 – March 29, 2005) was an American attorney from California who was involved in numerous civil rights and police brutality cases throughout his 38-year career. He led the so-called "Dream Team" of defense lawyers during the murder trial of O. J.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Simpson. Cochran also represented Sean Combs, Michael Jackson, Tupac Shakur, Stanley Tookie Williams, Todd Bridges, football player Jim Brown, Snoop Dogg, former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe, 1992 Los Angeles riot beating victim Reginald Oliver Denny, inmate and activist Geronimo Pratt, and athlete Marion Jones when she faced doping charges during her high school track career. Cochran was born in 1937 in Shreveport, Louisiana, the great-grandson of a slave. His father, Johnnie Cochran Sr. (October 20, 1916 – April 29, 2018), was an insurance salesman and his mother sold Avon products.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The family relocated to the West Coast during the second wave of the Great Migration, eventually settling in Los Angeles. Cochran was six years old when his family moved into a three bedroom, one bath, wood frame house in West Adams, which was a middle-class neighborhood at that time. Cochran...

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

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• Alexander Gomelsky — Contemporary (Died in 2005) (2005): Pioneering Russian basketball player and coach, revered as the Father of Soviet and Russian basketball.
• Andrea Dworkin — Contemporary (Died in 2005) (2005): Radical feminist writer and activist known for analyzing pornography and patriarchal violence.
• Al-Suyuti — Shared historical date (10-02 · Born) (1445): Egyptian Sunni polymath, renowned for authorship across nearly all Islamic sciences.
• Annie Leibovitz — Shared historical date (10-02 · Born) (1949): Iconic American portrait photographer known for intimate celebrity and historical portraits.
• Agnès Varda — Shared historical date (03-29 · Died) (2019): Pioneering French filmmaker, artist, and documentarian celebrated for her unique vision.
• Alexei Abrikosov (physicist) — Shared historical date (03-29 · Died) (2017): Pioneering theoretical physicist known for low-temperature condensed matter physics.
• 1937 Historical Timeline & Archive — Explore world events and figures from 1937
• October 2 (10-02) On This Day — Historical birthdays and events on October 2
• 2005 Historical Timeline & Archive — Explore world events and figures from 2005
• March 29 (03-29) On This Day — Historical events and memorials on March 29

Frequently Asked Questions about Johnnie Cochran