Black voices were legally silenced in courtrooms for a large portion of American history. A brave few, however, refused to remain silent.
During Black History Month, we honor the African American lawyers and judges who transformed the bench from a tool of oppression into a lever for equality. Following our look at North Carolina’s local trailblazers, we are broadening our lens to celebrate the national icons whose brilliance and bravery forever changed the course of the United States.
Barriers Black Lawyers Fought Through
Black prospective lawyers were frequently shut out of juries, law schools, courts, and professional networks during segregation. In the 19th century, most women, especially women of color, were outright barred from enrolling in law schools or obtaining licenses, since it was a well known fact that the legal field was reserved essentially for wealthy white men.
Even after gaining their freedom, Black men were not allowed to join many bar associations or schools. The American Bar Association themselves did not admit Black members until the 1910s, forcing them to form their own National Bar Association in 1925.
Additionally, all-white juries were the norm, effectively shutting Black citizens out of jury service.
And throughout all of this, despite the injustices they faced, there were African Americans who fought for a chance to practice law.
The First Black Lawyers and Judges
Macon Bolling Allen became the first licensed Black lawyer in America in 1844, having had to pass the Maine bar exam in a hostile climate but succeeded and later even became the nation’s first Black judge (Justice of the Peace in Massachusetts).
The first Black woman lawyer, Charlotte E. Ray, graduated from Howard University Law in 1872 and was admitted to the bar in Washington, D.C., making her the first African-American woman to formally practice law in the US. Ray opened her own law office, but prejudice in the 1870s meant she struggled to find clients and had to close her practice.
A few decades later, Jane Bolin made history in 1939 as the first Black female judge in the United States. Bolin served on New York’s family court for 40 years, where she fought to end segregation in child services and probation assignments.
The People Behind Landmark Civil Rights Victories
African American civil rights lawyers in the mid-20th century used the law as a tool against Jim Crow segregation. Charles Hamilton Houston, the NAACP’s first special counsel, masterminded a legal strategy to dismantle “separate but equal” schools, exposing the hollowness of segregation and paving the way for the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling that outlawed school segregation.
Houston mentored a young attorney named Thurgood Marshall, who carried this fight forward. Marshall argued the Brown case before the Supreme Court and later became the first Black Supreme Court Justice in 1967.
How Black Legal Leadership Is Shaping Justice Right Now
Today, Black legal leadership continues to advance justice and equality. The legal profession has become more diverse, though it still has far to go. African Americans make up about 13% of the population, but only around 5% are lawyers.
Slowly but surely, that number is changing. Black attorneys are reaching new milestones and driving change. One such milestone comes from 2022, where Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as the first Black woman ever to serve on the US Supreme Court.
Conclusion
African American legal pioneers have shaped US history, from the first Black attorneys to enter courtrooms to the civil rights lawyers who dismantled Jim Crow. Their bravery provided them access to the highest echelons of the judiciary, law schools, and courtrooms.
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