William Eugene McAnulty, Jr. was the first black justice to serve on the Kentucky Supreme Court and the first black person to ever hold a cabinet level position in Kentucky state government. Justice McAnulty was appointed to the state Supreme Court in June 2006 by Kentucky … Read MoreWilliam E. McAnulty, Jr. (1947-2007)
Otis Milton Smith became the first black justice on the Michigan Supreme Court in 1961, and served on the court until 1966. Smith was also the first black corporate officer of the General Motors Corporation, where he worked as general counsel, vice president, and leading attorney between 1966 and 1984. Smith … Read MoreOtis M. Smith (1922-1994)
Charles E. Freeman is the first and only African American to serve on the State of Illinois Supreme Court, representing the First Judicial District of Illinois. Freeman was born in 1933 in Richmond, Virginia. A 1954 graduate of Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia. Freeman served in the U.S. Army from 1956 to … Read MoreCharles Edward Freeman (1933- )
Myra Consetta Selby has served as both the first African American and first female associate justice appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court. Selby was born in 1955 in Bay City, Michigan. Selby’s father, the late Ralph L. Selby, worked as an attorney; her mother Archie was a fourth-grade school teacher. … Read MoreMyra Consetta Selby (1955- )
James H. Coleman, Jr., is an American lawyer, judge, and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Born on May 4th, 1933, in Lawrenceville, Virginia, Coleman is the son of a poor southern sharecropper. While Coleman has since retired his position as an … Read MoreJames H. Coleman, Jr. (1933- )
Robert Morton Duncan was an American prosecutor, judge, and the first African-American to serve on the Ohio state Supreme Court. Born on August 24th, 1927, in Urbana, Ohio, Duncan is the son of parents Benjamin Austin and Wanda Brown Duncan. Duncan attended a desegregated school in Urbana at a time … Read MoreRobert Morton Duncan (1927-2012)
Robert Glass, the Connecticut Supreme Court’s first African American member, was born on November 28, 1922, to M.E. Jackson and Isiah Glass in Wetumpka, Alabama. His parents were young and quite poor when he was born so they were not able to pay for his schoolbooks, which was … Read MoreRobert Davis Glass (1922-2001)
Muriel E. Poston is an accomplished botanist and dedicated educator working to increase underrepresented populations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Her extensive science career crosses many universities and institutions, including Howard University, and the National Science Foundation. Her expertise in botany lies in the flora of Central and South America, specifically Panama, Nicaragua, and Ecuador with … Read MoreMuriel E. Poston (1950- )
John Preston Davis was a prominent African American author, journalist, lawyer, civil rights leader, and co-founder of the National Negro Congress (1935-1946), an organization that was dedicated to the advancement of African Americans all over the country during the Great Depression. Davis was born on January 19th, 1905, in Washington D.C. He graduated … Read MoreJohn Preston Davis (1905-1973)
Revius Oliver Ortique, Jr., civil rights attorney, civil rights activist and leader, judge, and Supreme Court justice, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to Revius Oliver Ortique and Lillie Edith Long on June 14, 1924. He had a younger brother named Calvin J. Ortique. Ortique and his wife Miriam Marie Victorianne Ortique … Read MoreRevius Oliver Ortique, Jr. (1924-2008)
