African American Firsts – Law
Charlotte E. Ray (1850-1911)
Charlotte E. Ray was the first black woman attorney in the United States and the first woman to practice law...
Macon Bolling Allen (1816-1894)
Macon Bolling Allen was one of the first Black men in the United States licensed to practice law. Born Allen...
Constance Baker Motley (1921-2005)
Constance Baker Motley was born on September 14, 1921, in New Haven, Connecticut. She was the ninth child in a...
Mifflin Wistar Gibbs (1823-1915)
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 17, 1823, Mifflin Wistar Gibbs apprenticed as a carpenter. By his early 20s, he...
William Henry Hastie (1904-1976)
William Henry Hastie Jr., attorney and diplomat, was born on November 17, 1904 in Knoxville, Tennessee to parents William Henry...
Dennis Archer (1942- )
Although he has served as a public school teacher, attorney, and Michigan State Supreme Court Justice, Dennis Archer is best...
Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993)
Thurgood Marshall was an American civil rights activist with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and...
Charles Hamilton Houston (1895-1950)
Charles Hamilton Houston, a renowned civil rights attorney, is widely recognized as the architect of the civil rights strategy that...
