Belford Vance Lawson Jr. was the first African American to win a Supreme Court case. Born on July 9th, 1901, in Roanoke, Virginia. Lawson attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He played for the university football team and was only the school’s … Read MoreBelford Vance Lawson Jr (1901-1985)
Cheri Beasley is the first African American woman to serve as Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. She has served as Vice-President of the North Carolina Bar Association Board of Governors. Born in 1966 in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, and … Read MoreCheri Beasley (1966 – )
Raymond Lawrence Finch, a Federal District Court and contributor to the development of the Virgin Islands Legal System, was born on October 4, 1940 in Christiansted, St. Croix, to Wilfred Christopher Finch and Beryl Esther Bough Finch. His siblings were Gordon A. Finch, a former … Read MoreRaymond Lawrence Finch (1940-2023)
On January 2, 2019, Melody J. Stewart became the first African American woman sworn in to serve on the Ohio Supreme Court. Justice Stewart was born on February 19, 1962, in Cleveland, Ohio. Growing up in the Hough neighborhood of Cleveland, Stewart was raised by … Read MoreMelody J. Stewart (1962- )
The Honorable Tamika R. Montgomery-Reeves is a lawyer and the first African American to serve as an Associate Justice on the Delaware Supreme Court. Justice Montgomery was born on April 29, 1981 in Jackson, Mississippi to Bettye Cribbs and Dewery Montgomery. She attended the University … Read MoreTamika Montgomery-Reeves (1981- )
Wiley William Manuel, the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the State of California, was the son of a railroad dining car waiter, and a domestic worker. He was born on August 28, 1927 in an impoverished area of Oakland, California and attended public … Read MoreWiley W. Manuel (1927-1981)
With his appointment in 1955 as the first African American to serve on the New York State Supreme Court, Harold Arnoldus Stevens continued a string of firsts that began in 1950 when he was elected to the New York Court of General Sessions, becoming the first African … Read MoreHarold A. Stevens (1907-1990)
Morris Overstreet was the first African American in Texas state history to be elected to a statewide office and the second (after Judge Louis Sturns) to sit on one of the two highest courts in the state, the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals. Overstreet was born on … Read MoreMorris Overstreet (1950- )
Henry Ell Frye is the first African American Assistant United States District Attorney, the first African American elected to the North Carolina General Assembly in the twentieth century, and the first African American Chief Justice for the North Carolina Supreme Court. Frye was born on August 1, 1932 in Ellerbe, … Read MoreHenry Ell Frye (1932- )
Justice Michael Douglas is the first African American Justice of the Nevada Supreme Court. He was first appointed in 2004 and has twice served as Chief Justice of the court. Justice Douglas was born in Los Angeles, California and graduated from California State Long Beach in 1971 and Hastings Law School in 1974. … Read MoreMichael L. Douglas (1948- )
