Melvyn Rosenman Leventhal (born March 18, 1943)[1] is an American attorney known for his work as a community organizer and lawyer in the 1960s–70s Civil Rights Movement. From 1969 to 1974 he served as the Lead Counsel in Mississippi for the Legal Defense Fund, the litigation arm of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). After returning to New York, he served as a staff attorney for LDF for several more years. He also practiced business law.
He and Black author Alice Walker of Georgia married in New York City in 1967. They were known after their return to Mississippi as the first legally married interracial couple in the state; they had a daughter together.