# When were Black Lawyers, Judges, and Jurors allowed in the U.S.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 6, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062 "2011-07-06T17:27:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/1 "2011-07-06T17:27:10Z")
Three part question concerning Black Lawyers, Judges, and Jurors. Prior to the Civil Rights Movement Blacks faced segregation and prejudice in the U.S. Especially in the segregated South. But, prejudice existed everywhere. I’ve studied the Civil Rights Movement informally since taking a English Lit class in college. We read a lot of essays and other writings from people involved in the Civil Rights Movement, studied Dr. King, Thurgood Marshall etc. I’ve never heard much about the history of Black lawyers and Judges. The horror stories of Blacks receiving unfair treatment in White courts is well documented. So, 15% of the lynchings occurred outside the South. Even in my own childhood educated Blacks were called uppity and they didn’t know their place. It was a dangerous time for educated Blacks in the U.S. > [@](#): > > More than 85 percent of the estimated 5,000 lynchings in the post-Civil War period occurred in the Southern states. 1892 was a peak year when 161 African Americans were lynched. The creation of the Jim Crow laws, beginning in the 1890s, completed the revival of white supremacy in the South. Terror and lynching were used to enforce both these formal laws and a variety of unwritten rules of conduct meant to assert white domination. In most years from 1889 to 1923, there were 50–100 lynchings annually across the South. > **[Lynching in the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_in_the_United_States)** > > Lynching was the occurrence of extrajudicial killings that began in the United States' pre–Civil War South in the 1830s, slowed during the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, and continued until 1981. Although the victims of lynchings were members of various ethnicities, after roughly 4 million enslaved African Americans were emancipated, they became the primary targets of white Southerners. Lynchings in the U.S. reached their height from the 1890s to the 1920s, and they primarily vi... I found an article listing ten famous Black Law Schools. Howard University being the one I already knew. [http://www.ehow.com/list\_5974660\_top-black-law-schools-america.html](http://www.ehow.com/list_5974660_top-black-law-schools-america.html) When were Black Lawyers first admitted to the Bar? 1. Segregated South 2. Everywhere else? Could they practice Civil and Criminal law? Did a separate Court system exist with black judges & juries for cases that only involved Blacks? 1. Segregated South 2. Everywhere else? When were blacks allowed on juries that included whites? 1. Segregated South 2. Everywhere else? When were Black judges allowed to handle criminal trials with white defendants? 1. Segregated South 2. Everywhere else? That had to be a huge event. A Black man sending a white person to prison or even hanging? I imagine the Klan got pretty worked up over that. We’ve come a long, long way since the Civil Rights Movement. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/2 "2011-07-06T17:29:36Z")
Yet some barriers remain to be overcome. For instance, Black women on TV law shows may be judges or jurors, but not lawyers. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/3 "2011-07-06T17:38:09Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Yet some barriers remain to be overcome. For instance, Black women on TV law shows may be judges or jurors, but not lawyers. One of the lawyers on _The Defenders_ was a black woman. But that show got cancelled. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/4 "2011-07-06T17:54:42Z")
I forgot to ask about Federal Courts. :smack: Same questions… When were Black judges first appointed? When were Black lawyers allowed to practice in Federal Courts? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/5 "2011-07-06T18:17:46Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Yet some barriers remain to be overcome. For instance, Black women on TV law shows may be judges or jurors, but not lawyers. What about the great [Shambala Green](http://lawandorder.wikia.com/wiki/Shambala_Green) played in many episodes of Law & Order by Lorraine Toussaint? [Sophina Brown](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1330166/) was a regular on _Shark_ playing a lawyer. Those are just the first two that come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/6 "2011-07-06T19:37:24Z")
First black juror–1860; see [here](http://eji.org/eji/files/EJI%20Race%20and%20Jury%20Report.pdf) _(warning: PDF file)_ for a good history of racial exclusion and discrimination on juries. First black lawyer–Macon Allen of Maine, 1844; see [here](http://www.jtbf.org/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=FirstAfricanAmericanLawyers&category=Integration) for a list by state. Note that the Southern bars integrated during Reconstruction, but this window shut a few years later and would not be reopened until modern times. Macon Allen also served as a justice of the peace. The first African American state or municipal judge appears to have been George L. Ruffin, in Boston in 1883. The first African American federal judge was [William Hastie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Hastie), appointed by President Truman in 1946. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/7 "2011-07-06T20:36:54Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Yet some barriers remain to be overcome. For instance, Black women on TV law shows may be judges or jurors, but not lawyers. With respect, have you ever watched television? 🙂 Practically every ensemble lawyer/cop show of the last twenty years features at least one black female attorney: Law and Order (and its spinoffs, Criminal Intent, SVU, Los Angeles, and UK), Boston Legal, Ally McBeal, the Practice, NYPD Blue, Lie to Me, Raising the Bar, the Good Wife, The Defenders, Family Law, Damages, the Closer, Harry’s Law, Southland, Judging Amy, and of course Night Court. And how could you forgot the great Claire Huxtable from the Cosby Show? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/8 "2011-07-06T21:15:58Z")
Historically jurors were drawn exclusively from the electoral role (though women were often excluded long after getting the vote). This would’ve made black jurors a virtual impossibility in the South before the 1960s. While Blacks were allowed to practice law even in the Deep South they didn’t exactly get treated equally with their white colleauges. [George Wallace](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wallace#Entry_into_politics) was elected a judge in 1953 he was considered quite liberal and fair because among other things he addressed Black lawyers as “Mr (or Miss) Lastname” just like White lawyers were instead of calling them by their first names (or _worse_). ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/9 "2011-07-06T21:24:07Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > The first African American federal judge was [William Hastie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Hastie), appointed by President Truman in 1946. He was the first African American Appellate appointment, in 1949, but he had been appointed as District Judge for the Virgin Islands in 1936. And before him, Robert H. Terrell had been appointed judge of the DC municipal court. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/10 "2011-07-06T21:30:27Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > He was the first African American Appellate appointment, in 1949, but he had been appointed as District Judge for the Virgin Islands in 1936. Ah, I got his roles confused–he was federal judge in the Virgin Islands in the 1930’s, and governor in the 1940’s. So credit for the first appointment of a black man to the federal bench goes to FDR. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/11 "2011-07-06T23:13:47Z")
Thanks Freddy the Pig 😉 Those dates were much earlier than I expected. I’d imagine it was a long time before it was common to see black jurors or even lawyers in court. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/12 "2011-07-06T23:18:05Z")
> [@anson2995](#): > > and of course Night Court. Who’s the black attorney on Night Court? I remember a black bailiff and a court clerk, but not a lawyer. Am I forgetting someone? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/13 "2011-07-06T23:23:48Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Ah, I got his roles confused–he was federal judge in the Virgin Islands in the 1930’s, and governor in the 1940’s. So credit for the first appointment of a black man to the federal bench goes to FDR. Or to William Howard Taft, who appointed Terrell to the DC Municipal Court in 1910. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/14 "2011-07-06T23:35:07Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Who’s the black attorney on Night Court? I remember a black bailiff and a court clerk, but not a lawyer. Am I forgetting someone? I’m curious about this myself. The clerk, Mac, was a black guy (who replaced a white woman in the role), the DA was always Dan Fielding (played by John Laroquette) and the defense attorney was played by at least two white women that I recall, the latter being Markie Post. There was an _It’s a Wonderful Life_ type episode in which Harry Stone is invisibly guided by his assigned angel (played by Mel Tormé) through Night Court had Harry never become a judge. In it, Dan is the corrupt judge, Roz (normally the black female bailiff) is an arrested protester, Bull is Deputy Mayor of New York and Mac was the district attorney (though the stress was wrecking havoc with his health and personal life). But for this one-off fantasy episode, I can’t recall a black lawyer character. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/15 "2011-07-07T01:35:28Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Who’s the black attorney on Night Court? I remember a black bailiff and a court clerk, but not a lawyer. Am I forgetting someone? ISTR (but can’t back it up) that in the first few episodes of the first season there was a black defense lawyer who hung around the court looking to pick up random clients. That character was phased out when they brought in a public defender as a regular character. In real life, the Mound City Bar Association in St. Louis was the first black bar association west of the Mississippi. It was founded in 1922. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/16 "2011-07-07T04:51:33Z")
[moderating] **Freddy the Pig** , I’ve edited your post above to add a little warning after the link to the PDF file. A lot of people have problems with Adobe Reader, and it’s considered courteous to warn readers before sending them off to PDF land. [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/17 "2011-07-07T09:43:34Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > ISTR (but can’t back it up) that in the first few episodes of the first season there was a black defense lawyer who hung around the court looking to pick up random clients. That character was phased out when they brought in a public defender as a regular character. That was probably Liz. I thought she was the regular public defender for the first season or so. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/18 "2011-07-07T12:56:56Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I’m curious about this myself. The clerk, Mac, was a black guy (who replaced a white woman in the role), the DA was always Dan Fielding (played by John Laroquette) and the defense attorney was played by at least two white women that I recall, the latter being Markie Post. The previous defense attorney was played by Ellen Foley, who amusingly enough, was the female vocalist on the album version of Meatloaf’s “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”. I have no idea if they ever referred to this in the show, but they should have. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/19 "2011-07-07T15:11:45Z")
I don’t have James McPherson’s book on he Civil war available but he does mention a black lawyer arguing a case before the SCOTUS and Chief Justice Roger Taney who several years earlier had written in the Dred Scott case that “negroes didn’t have any rights that a white man had to respect”. This must have been late 1864/early 1865. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062/20 "2011-07-07T15:47:52Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > That was probably Liz. I thought she was the regular public defender for the first season or so. Yep, IMDB lists Paula Kelly as Public Defender Liz Williams for maybe the first 12 episodes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-were-black-lawyers-judges-and-jurors-allowed-in-the-u-s/588062.md?page=2)