List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Tennessee
This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Tennessee. It includes the year in which the men were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are other distinctions such as the first minority men in their state to graduate from law school or become a political figure.
Firsts in Tennessee's history
[edit]
Lawyers
[edit]- First African American male: Horatio Nelson Rankin (1868)[1]
- First African American male to argue a case before the Tennessee Supreme Court: William F. Yardley (1872) in 1883[2]
State judges
[edit]- First Jewish American male (upon his brief appointment to the Supreme Court of Tennessee): Leopold Lehman in 1892[3]
- First African American male (since Reconstruction): Benjamin Hooks (1948) in 1965[4][5][6][7]
- First African American male (General Sessions Court): A. A. Birch Jr. (1956) in 1969[8][9]
- First African American male (city court): S.A. Wilbun in 1973[10] (1973)
- First African American male (circuit court) S.A. Wilbun in 1978[10] (1978)
- First African American male (criminal court): A. A. Birch Jr. (1956) in 1978[8][9][11]
- First African American male (Tennessee Supreme Court): George H. Brown in 1980[12][13]
- First African American male (Chief Justice; Tennessee Supreme Court): A. A. Birch Jr. (1956) in 1994[8][9]
- First African American male (Tennessee Court of Appeals): Richard Dinkins in 2008[14]
- First Hispanic American male (trial court judge): Hector Sanchez in 2022[15]
Federal judges
[edit]- First African American male (U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee): Odell Horton (1956) in 1980[16]
- First African American male (United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee): Curtis L. Collier in 1995
- First African American male (U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee): William Joseph Haynes Jr. (1973) in 1999[17]
- First Greek American male (Judge and Chief Judge): United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee): Thomas A. Varlan in 2003 and 2012 respectively[18]
- First African American male from Tennessee (United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit): Andre Mathis in 2022[19]
Assistant United States Attorney
[edit]- First African American male: Odell Horton (1956)[16]
Assistant District Attorney
[edit]- First African American males (since Reconstruction): Arthur T. Bennett and A. A. Birch Jr. (1956) respectively around 1965-1966[20][10][9]
Public Defender
[edit]- First African American male: Benjamin Hooks (1948)[7]
Faculty
[edit]- First African American male law professor: Joseph H. Dismukes in 1883[21]
Firsts in local history
[edit]- Prince Albert Ewing:[22][23][24] First African American male lawyer in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee
- A. A. Birch Jr. (1956):[8] First African American male to serve as a prosecutor and judge in Davidson County, Tennessee
- Martesha L. Johnson (2018) [25] First African American to serve as a Chief Public Defender for Metro Nashville, Davidson County and second woman.
- Rheubin Taylor:[26] First African American male to serve as the County Attorney for Hamilton County, Tennessee (1994)
- Gerald Webb:[27] First African American male judge in Hamilton County, Tennessee (2019)
- William Francis Yardley (1872):[28] First African American male lawyer in Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee
- Charles E. Bush:[29] First African American male judge in Montgomery County, Tennessee (1995)
- General Quarles Boyd:[30] First African American male lawyer in Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee
- John McClellan Sr.:[31] First African American male to serve as the Justice of the Peace in Putnam County, Tennessee (1972)
- Thomas Frank Cassels:[10] First African American male to serve as the Attorney General Pro Tem of Shelby County Criminal Court (c. 1880s)
- Josiah T. Settle (1875):[10] First African American male to serve as a prosecutor in Shelby County, Tennessee
- Ural B. Adams:[10] First African American male to serve as the Public Defender of Shelby County, Tennessee (1979)
- Floyd Peete:[10] First African American male to serve as the Chancellor of Shelby County Chancery Court (1990)
- Tarik Sugarmon:[32] First African American male to serve as a juvenile court judge in Shelby County, Tennessee (2022)
- S.A. Wilbun:[10] First African American male to serve as the Assistant City Attorney in Memphis, Tennessee (1964) [Shelby County, Tennessee]
- John George Morris:[33] First Greek American lawyer in Memphis, Tennessee [Shelby County, Tennessee]
- Joe Brown:[34] First African American male prosecutor in Memphis, Tennessee [Shelby County, Tennessee]
See also
[edit]Other topics of interest
[edit]- List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States
- List of first women lawyers and judges in Tennessee
References
[edit]- ^ "History and Milestones | Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts". www.tncourts.gov. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ "Yardley, William Francis (1844-1924) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed". www.blackpast.org. Retrieved October 26, 2017.
- ^ Strauch, Irving (1992). "Jewish Judges from Memphis" (PDF). Jewish Historical Society of Memphis and the Mid-South.
- ^ Brock, Roslyn M. (May 3, 2010). "Benjamin Hooks". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
- ^ The Crisis. The Crisis Publishing Company, Inc. 2010.
- ^ "Milestones". benfjones.org. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
- ^ a b The Journal of the Constitutional Convention. The Convention. 1977.
- ^ a b c d "Justice A.A. Birch dies at age 78". Retrieved January 12, 2018.
- ^ a b c d Ely, James W.; Brown (Jr.), Theodore; Huebner, Timothy S.; Brown, R. Ben; Thompson, Ruth Anne; Vile, John R.; Pierce, Carl A. (2002). A History of the Tennessee Supreme Court. Univ. of Tennessee Press. ISBN 978-1-57233-178-5.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Milestones « Ben F. Jones Chapter of the National Bar Association". benfjones.com. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
- ^ Upon Birch's appointment as a Criminal Court Judge for the Twentieth District (Davidson County) in 1978
- ^ Ely, James W.; (Jr.), Theodore Brown (2002). A History of the Tennessee Supreme Court. Univ. of Tennessee Press. ISBN 9781572331785.
- ^ Sabato, Larry (2003). Midterm Madness: The Elections of 2002. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780742526860.
- ^ Gainey, Blaise (October 2, 2023). "Tennessee Judge Richard Dinkins, who paved the way for desegregating Nashville schools, has died". WPLN News. Retrieved October 4, 2023.
- ^ Mason, Richard. "Judge Hector Sanchez becomes first Hispanic trial court judge in Tennessee". WVLT. Retrieved October 21, 2022.
- ^ a b Staff, Times; Reports, Wire (February 24, 2006). "Odell Horton, 77; First Modern Black Federal Judge in Tennessee". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
- ^ "Judge 'Joe' Haynes Jr. plans to take a step back". The Tennessean. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
- ^ "Varlan Sworn in as Eastern District's Chief Federal Judge - Articles". www.tba.org. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
- ^ "Here's something you don't see every day: A Republican gave a Joe Biden judicial nominee the one vote he needed to pass the Senate". www.politico.com. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
- ^ "Judge Arthur T. Bennett honored for his service to the state of Tennessee". localmemphis.com. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
- ^ deGregory, Crystal A. (May 2011). "RAISING A NONVIOLENT ARMY: FOUR NASHVILLE BLACK COLLEGES AND THE CENTURY-LONG STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, 1830s-1930s" (PDF). Graduate School of Vanderbilt University.
- ^ King, Lovalerie (2003). A Student's Guide to African American Literature, 1760 to the Present. Peter Lang. ISBN 9780820455211.
- ^ "No Story Untold - Parthenon Publishing". Parthenon Publishing. December 5, 2016. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
- ^ "Classmate Announcements - Vanderbilt Lawyer (Volume 37, Number 1)". law.vanderbilt.edu. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
- ^ "Martesha L. Johnson, Chief Public Defender – Public Defender of Metropolitan Nashville & Davidson County". publicdefender.nashville.gov. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
- ^ "Race relations in Chattanooga". timesfreepress.com. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
- ^ "Gerald Webb Sworn In As The First African American Judge For Hamilton County, Tennessee, Courts". Essence. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
- ^ Smith, Jessie Carney (December 1, 2012). Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events. Visible Ink Press. ISBN 9781578594245.
- ^ Clark, Alexis (February 22, 2021). "Meet Montgomery County's first Black judge". The Leaf Chronicle. p. A.1. ProQuest 2491958513.
- ^ "Karen Willis county's first black female assistant DA". The Leaf-Chronicle. Clarksville, Tennessee. October 16, 2012. p. E4. Retrieved February 14, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Trotter, Megan. "Contributors to progress honored at IMPACT banquet". Herald Citizen. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
- ^ Hawkins, Sydney. "Shelby County elects its first Black juvenile court judge". Action News 5. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
- ^ "George Morris Obituary (1941 - 2018) - Charleston, SC - Charleston Post & Courier". Legacy.com. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
- ^ Moore, Scott (August 30, 1998). "JOE BROWN: JUDGE FOR YOURSELF". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved February 15, 2022.