AMONG THE LAWYERS A Lawyer in Time Saves Many a Dime.

A. B. MACON was the first Negro in the United States to be admitted before the bar to practice law, which occured in Massachusetts in 1845. Since he thus blazed such a path through the law fields of America, Colored men and women have continued to follow that pathway until today there are about one thousand Colored lawyers practicing in different parts of the United States. And they are making splendid records before judge benches and jury boxes by legally understanding, plainly interpreting, and loyally defending the laws of this land.

When Miss Charlotte Ray, as the first Colored woman lawyer in America, graduated from Howard University in 1872, she was fully justified in lightly and nimbly stepping off the campus of her Alma Mata with her heart excitedly beating in her eagerness to at once secure a case and descend upon some court room where she could try out her logical, convincing and persuasive pleadings.

Since Miss Ray’s graduation as a lawyer, it is found that while many, say twenty-five or thirty Colored women in the United States have up to the present time secured their degree of LL. B., few of them are today engaged in active law practice. Among this number the writer has only been able to locate the following who are today practicing law in this country: Attorneys Violette N. Anderson, Chicago, Ill., Carolyn Hall Mason and Marie Nadras, Washington, D.C. and Mrs. Jessica Morris, wife of Edward H. Morris, the foremost practicing Colored attorney in Chicago, is a graduate of the 1920 law class of Northwestern University and during the month of July 1921 successfully passed her State Bar Examination. At this writing she had not taken up active practice. Attorney Violette N. Anderson, 145 No. Clark Street, Chicago, Ill., is very anxious and has for quite a while been trying to locate and get into communication with every Colored woman lawyer in the United States, in order to form a National Association.

One of the many up-lifting acts performed for Colored people by Charles Sumner, that fearless Abolitionist and loyal friend to the Negro race, was to make it possible in 1865 for John Rock to be admitted as the first Negro to practice law before the United States Supreme Court.

The first Negro to hold a city judgeship in the United States was M. Wistar Gibbs, who in 1873 was elected to that responsible and dignified position in Little Rock, Ark. This learned lawyer also at different times filled such national positions as Register of the U. S. Land Office in Arkansas and United States Consul to the Island of Madagascar.

(Ref. Work’s Negro Year Book, 1918-1919 edition pgs. 171-283.)

Without doubt the best known and most popular Colored lawyer in the United States today is Judge Robt. H. Terrell, who as Municipal Judge for many years repeatedly appointed in Washington, D.C., by both Republican and Democratic Presidents, has won and held the good-will and respect of his white associates because of his all-round judical wisdom and logical decisions in the court room. By his pleasant and friendly manners as well as loyalty and pride in his Race, Judge Terrell has also endeared himself in the hearts of the great masses of Colored people in all parts of the country where he has traveled and spoken.

Many Negro lawyers in different parts of the country have won national recognitions and reputations by their legal fights before city or state legislative bodies for equal citizenship rights and protection of Colored citizens in the United States. The following are among those whose names come to the writer’s mind at this moment:

Hon. Harry C. Smith, while a member of the Ohio Legislature, drew up an Anti-lynching Bill and introduced it into that body in 1894 and re-introduced it in 1896 when it was enacted into a law, which has been upheld on several occasions by the Supreme Court of Ohio. This law is one of the best pieces of legislature of such nature enacted by any state in the Union, and other States that have formed such laws have modeled them after the Ohio measure. Attorney Smith was also the sponsor of the present Ohio Civil Rights Law.

Hon. Robt. R. Jackson is the father of the Illinois Civil Rights Bill that went through the Illinois General Assembly while he was a member of it. It has been through his wisdom and untiring efforts that several other city and state bills have been drawn up and passed as laws for the benefit of the Colored people in Illinois.

Hon. H. J. Copehart with the assistance of Hon. T. G. Nutter, both members of the W. Va. Legislature, has succeeded in putting through the House and Senate of that state one of the severest anti-lynching bills so far passed by any state legislative body. Representative Nutter, among the numerous measures he has had passed, is producer of the bills that were passed and enacted into laws to establish an industrial school for Colored boys and an industrial home for Colored girls in W. Va.

Hon. F. M. Roberts is the first and only Negro serving as a State Assemblyman in the California Legislature. Since he was first elected in 1918 and re-elected in 1920, he has been the means of having put through several bills that have been enacted into laws for the welfare of Negroes in California.

Hon. J. C. Asbury, a Pennsylvania Representative, is father of the Equal Civil Rights Bill that was recently killed in the Pennsylvania State Senate after having passed through the House. Legislator Asbury made such a well prepared legal fight for the passage of his bill that even those who fought against it were compelled to admire the flawlessness of the measure and the intelligent and manly contest by its sponsor.

Many other notable Negro lawyers too numerous to mention here have taken courageous and successful stands in using their legal abilities along the above lines as well as defending riot victims of their race in different parts of the country. The following names are of other prominent Colored attorneys about whom the writer learned during his research work in the following named cities:

Atlanta, Ga. P. Allen, A. T. Walden. Atlantic City, N. J. J. A. Lightfoot, I. N. Nutter. Augusta, Ga. J. Lyons, A. Shadd. Baltimore, Md. J. T. Davis, R. F. Bond, G. F. McMeeken, J. H. Payne, G. L. Pendleton, A. W. Hawkins. Birmingham, Ala. E. A. Brown. Boley, Okla. M. H. Martin, W. S. Peters. Boston, Mass. E. P. Benjamin, L. S. Hicks, W. H. Lewis, W. B. Matthews, C. Morgan, B. R. Wilson. Brooklyn, N. Y. F. Giles, R. A. Lattimore, S. Pease, G. E. Wibercan. Camden, N. J. John Martin. Charleston, S. C. W. A. Dart, E. F. Smith. Charleston, W. Va. C. E. Kimbrough, T. G. Nutter. Charlotte, N. C. J. T. Saunders. Chattanooga, Tenn. J. G. Burger, W. H. Hixon. Chester, Pa. W. H. Ridley. Chicago, Ill. Violette Anderson, Jessica Morris, G. W. Ellis, E. H. Morris, Judge W. H. Harrison, H. M. Porter, J. A. Scott, S. A. Watkins, S. L. Williams, E. H. Wright. Cincinnati, Ohio. A. L. Beaty, W. B. Bush. Cleveland, Ohio. T. W. Flemming, A. H. Martin, H. E. Murrell, A. Hamilton, H. C. Smith. Columbia, S. C. N. J. Frederick. Columbus, Ohio. C. R. Doll, J. S. Farrison, W. King. Danville, Va. J. C. Carter. Dayton, Ohio. W. J. Buyden, T. Norris. Denver, Col. E. P. Blackmore, G. G. Ross. Des Moines, Iowa. S. J. Brown, J. B. Morris, J. L. Thompson. Detroit, Mich. Attorneys Mahoney, Johnson and Roxborough. Durham. N. C. R. M. Andrews, E. W. Cannady. Evansville, Ind. J. Holt, E. J. Tildrinton. Fort Worth, Texas. W. H. Griggs, H. W. Hatton. Gary, Ind. P. F. Bouldt, L. A. Caldwell. Hampton, Va. A. W. E. Bassette, Sr. and Jr., G. W. Fields. Harrisburg, Pa. W. J. Carter, J. W. Parks. Helena, Ark. W. L. Scott. Hopkinsville, Ky. C. W. Merriweather. Houston, Texas. L. V. Allen, M. H. Broyles. Indianapolis, Ind. R. L. Brokenburr, W. K. Brown. Jackson, Miss. P. W. Howard, S. D. Redmond. Jacksonville, Fla. S. D. McGill, I. L. Purcell. Jersey City, N. J. R. Hartgson, R. S. Rice. Kansas City, Kan. I. F. Bradely, D. Green, L. W. Johnson. Kansas City, Mo. C. H. Calloway, W. C. Houston, A. L. Knox. Leavenworth, Kan. T. W. Bell, D. Jones. Little Rock, Ark. S. A. Jones, T. J. Price. Los Angeles, Cal. E. B. Ceruti, W. O. Tyler, A. G. Wickliffe, Charles Darden. Louisville, Ky. W. C. Brown, W. H. Wright. Memphis, Tenn. B. T. Booth, W. H. Foote. Bemidji, Minn. C. W. Scrutchins. Duluth, Minn. Elisha Scott. Mound Bayou, Miss. B. A. Green. Muskogee, Okla. T. R. Price. Nashville, Tenn. J. W. Grant, W. H. Hodgkins, J. C. Napier. Newark, N. J. Attorneys Douglass & Standard. New Orleans, La. F. B. Smith, R. C. Metoyer, J. Thornton. Newport News, Va. J. T. Newsome, W. E. Parker, R. H. Pree, J. L. Raney, P. S. Scott. New York, N. Y. J. D. Carr, C. G. French, E. A. Johnson, W. H. Smith, J. C. Thomas, J. D. Wetmore, J. F. Wheaton. Norfolk, Va. J. D. Diggs, J. M. Harrison. Oakland, Cal. E. A. Carter, J. D. Drake, A. O. Neal, Y. L. Richardson, L. Sledge. Omaha, Neb. H. J. Pinkett, A. P. Scruggs. Phila. Pa. J. C. Asbury, G. L. Dickinson, M. L. Lewis, J. A. Sparks, W. H. Thompson. Pine Bluff, Ark. J. F. Jones, W. W. Shelton. Pittsburgh, Pa. W. M. Randolph, W. H. Stanton, F. R. Stewart, R. L. Vann. Portland, Oregon. Eugene Minor. Portsmouth, Va. W. M. Reid. Providence, R. I. J. B. Edwards, J. LeCount. Raleigh, N. C. W. P. Ancrum, D. P. Love. Richmond, Va. J. T. Carter, J. T. Hewin. Roanoke, Va. A. J. Oliver, J. L. Reid. San Antonio, Texas. R. A. Campbell, L. W. Grenely, J. G. Wimberly. San Francisco, Cal. O. Audson, J. D. Drake. Savannah, Ga. J. H. Kinckle, J. G. Lemon. Seattle, Wash. C. R. Anderson. Shreveport, La. C. M. Roberson. St. Louis, Mo. C. E. Clark, H. G. Phillips, G. L. Vaughan. St. Paul, Minn. J. L. Ervin, W. T. Frances, H. Turner. Tampa, Fla. Z. D. Greene. Terre Haute, Ind. J. W. Henry. Washington, D.C., H. E. Davis, J. A. Cobb, R. A. Hughes, Judge R. H. Terrell. W. C. Martin, Carolyn H. Mason, Marie Nadras. Wichita, Kan. F. L. Martin.