Influenced by his Irish Catholic childhood and summers working with migrant farm workers in Michigan, Harrington grew up wanting to help the poor. At first he studied to be a priest, however after eight years he had a revelation that he could be a more effective advocate as a lawyer. He enrolled in law school at the University of Detroit, where he met he met Rebecca Flores. They married in 1972. The next year they moved to Texas and Harrington began working for the Texas branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Career
Harrington worked with the Texas branch of the American Civil Rights Union from 1973 to 1990. He collaborated with the organizing and litigation efforts of United Farm Workers and Cesar Chavez to secure farm workers' rights to sanitary facilities, toilets, and drinking water in the fields. They also secured unemployment benefits, workers’ compensation, and the right to know about dangerous chemicals used in the workplace. They won a Texas ban on the use of the short-handled hoe, which went into effect in 1981. In 1978, Harrington founded Oficina Legal del Pueblo Unido, Inc. as a grassroots foundation in South Texas. It's South Texas Project, led by Harrington, became the Texas Civil Rights Project in September 1990. The establishment of Texas Civil Rights Project marked the end of Harrington working for the Texas Civil Liberties Union. He said that the TCLU more interested in classic civil liberties issues, like free speech, while he was focused on racial justice issues. Under Harrington's leadership, the TCRP had a significant impact, winning many civil rights cases. These included the areas of disability rights, rural economic justice, compliance with Title IX, the criminal justice system, racial discrimination, police brutality and the right to privacy. After leading the TCRP for 25 years Harrington retired in 2015. In a departing piece published in the Texas Observer, he expressed his passion for civil rights and his desire to continue to serve, but by working "directly with people in a different way." Since retiring from TCRP, Jim Harrington has served as the director of Proyecto Santiago at St. James’ Episcopal Church in Austin and was ordained to the priesthood in 2020.
