In celebration of Black History Month

In celebration of Black History Month: February and Beyond, Vernis and Bowling recognizes these legal firsts from African Americans in states where we practice:

Macon Bolling Allen (born Allen Macon Bolling; August 4, 1816 – October 15, 1894) is believed to be the first African American to become a lawyer, argue before a jury and hold a judicial position in the United States. Allen moved to Charleston, South Carolina following the Civil War and opened a law office with two other African American attorneys, William Whipper and Robert Elliott. Their firm, Whipper, Elliott, and Allen, is the first known African American law firm in the country.

George Lawrence Mabson (1871) was the first African American male lawyer in North Carolina.

Judson Whitlocke Lyons was the State of Georgia’s first African American Attorney and one of the first black men appointed Register of the Treasury.

Born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1871, James Weldon Johnson’s life was defined by a number of firsts. Educated at Atlanta University, he was the first African American to pass the bar in Florida during his tenure as principal of Stanton Elementary School, his alma mater.
Joseph E. Lee graduated from the Institute for Colored Youth in the early 1860s and graduated from Howard University in law, 1873. He was admitted to the Florida bar that year and was one of the first blacks to practice in Florida. He served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1875 to 1879, and in the State Senate from 1881 to 1882.

Oscar William Adams, Jr. (1925-1997) was the first African American appointed to the Alabama Supreme Court and then the first African American elected to statewide constitutional office. In addition, he litigated many civil rights cases in his career as a lawyer and was part of the first African American law firm established in the State of Alabama.

A.W. Shadd was born in 1844. Prior to the Civil War, Shadd taught school. Once Black men were able to fight in the Union Army, Shadd enlisted and served in the 55th Massachusetts Regiment. He began the war as a private, however, by the end of the war he had been promoted to the rank of sergeant major. Following the war, he moved to Washington D.C. and attended Howard University. In 1871, Shadd graduated with a degree in law. Following his graduation, Shadd would eventually practice law in Washington County, Mississippi. It was in Mississippi where Shadd was elected clerk of the circuit court.