Zephaniah Alexander Looby (April 8, 1899 – March 24, 1972) was a lawyer in Nashville, Tennessee, who was active in the civil rights movement.

He is noted for being part of the defense team for 25 black men charged in attempted murder for the Columbia race riot of 1946 and winning acquittals for most, in the aftermath of the first major racial confrontation in the United States after World War II.

[2] Looby moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he started as an assistant professor at Fisk University, a historically black college.

[1] As a young state senator in Nashville's fifth ward, Ben West pushed for a charter reform in 1950 to allow local residents to elect city council members from single-member districts rather than through at-large voting.

The latter system favored the white majority in the city and made it difficult for the sizeable African-American minority ever to elect candidates of their choice.

[citation needed] After the United States Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional, Looby filed a suit in Nashville on behalf of A.Z.

[3] Beginning in February 1960, councilman Looby defended the students arrested in the Nashville sit-ins to achieve integration of public places.

[8] The house was nearly destroyed by the powerful bomb, which also blew out 140 windows at nearby Meharry Medical College, resulting in minor injuries to students.

[8] Afterward students from Fisk University led 2500 protesters on a silent walk to city hall, where they confronted Mayor Ben West.