*Tanya Chutkan was born on this date. She is an Afro Caribbean lawyer and judge. Tanya Sue Chutkan was born in Kingston, Jamaica. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 from George Washington University and a Juris Doctor in 1987 from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. From 1987 to 1990, she worked at the Hogan & […]
learn more*This date in 1527 is celebrated as the birth date of Jacques Francis, A Black British slave salvage diver. Francis was from Arguin Island, Mauritania. However, records at the time described him as a “Guinea diver” and exceptionally talented. He had been working for Piero Corsi on a 1546 salvage attempt of the Mary Rose, […]
learn more*The ‘For the Trial of Negroes’ Act was passed on this date in 1700. This colonial law was passed to socialize and control Black Africans in Delaware. This policy marked 150 years of discriminatory legislation to preserve chattel slavery in America. Blacks received more severe penalties than whites for crimes; they couldn’t carry weapons or assemble in […]
learn more*Charles Vanderburgh was born on this date in 1829. He was a white American lawyer, abolitionist and judge.
Born in Saratoga County, New York, Charles Edwin Vanderburgh graduated from Yale University in 1852. He taught school and studied law in Oxford, New York. In 1856, Vanderburgh moved to Minnesota Territory and practiced law in Minneapolis. In 1859, elected District Judge, Fourth Judicial District.
learn more*Emanuel Hewlett was born on this date in 1850. He was a Black attorney, judge, and civil rights activist. Emanuel D. Molyneaux Hewlett was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 15, 1850, the son of Aaron Molyneaux Hewlett and Virginia Josephine Molyneaux Hewlett. He had two sisters, Virginia Lind and Aaronella, and two brothers, […]
learn more*Robert Terrell was born on this date in 1857. He was a Black attorney, teacher, and judge. Robert Heberton Terrell was born in Orange, Virginia, to parents Harrison and Louisa Ann Terrell. The family moved to Washington, DC, in 1865 after the American Civil War and emancipation ended. His father, Harrison Terrell, worked for a prominent […]
learn more*Everett Waring was born on this date in 1859. He was a Black businessman and lawyer. Everett J. Waring, the son of Malvina C. and James S. Waring, was born in Springfield, Ohio. His father was an educator and principal of Black schools in Columbus and Springfield. Everett, whose mother and father were mulatto, was […]
learn more*The birth of Warner T. McGuinn on November 23rd 1859 is celebrated on this date. He was an African American lawyer and politician.
From Goochland County, near Richmond, Virginia, he was one of three sons of Jared and Fannie McGuinn. His older brother the Rev. Robert A. McGuinn was also born in Virginia and moved to Baltimore. A half-brother, the Rev. William M. Alexander (1852-1919), was pastor of Sharon Baptist Church in Baltimore and the first editor of the Baltimore Afro-American.
learn more*Racial segregation in the United States of America is affirmed on November 19, 1862. These were (are) laws that excluded facilities and services to communities based on race. The plight of Africans in the United States of America as chattel enslaved people was enforceable because of laws. Africans were brought to this country in the same category […]
learn moreThe 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was ratified on this date in 1865.
learn moreOn this date, we remember, the birth of William H. Lewis, born in 1868. He was an African American lawyer and football player.
Born to former slaves in Berkley, Virginia, William Henry Lewis worked to pay for his education at Virginia Normal Institute (now Virginia State University). He later attended Amherst College in Massachusetts. Excelling as an orator and athlete, Lewis was one of the first Black men to play collegiate football, serving as team captain in 1890 and 1891. He met his future wife (Elizabeth Baker) at his graduation.
learn moreOn his date, we mark the birth of William T. Francis in 1869. He was an African American politician and lawyer.
Francis was born in Indiana and went to Minnesota at an early age. After completing his education, he served in the legal department of Northern Pacific Railroad. Francis opened his own law firm in St. Paul before World War II.
In 1920, he was president-elector at the Republican State Convention. Francis and his wife were instrumental in getting an anti-lynching law passed in the Minnesota State Senate in the 1920s.
learn more*Lutie A. Lytle was born on this date in 1875. She was a Black lawyer and teacher. Lutie A. Lytle was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and was one of six surviving children of John R. and Mary Ann “Mollie” (Chesebro) Lytle, both formerly enslaved people. In 1882, the Lytle family moved to Topeka, Kansas. Lutie […]
learn more*Clara Washington Bruce was born on this date in 1879. She was a Black lawyer and administrator. Clara Washington Burrill grew up in a Black middle-class family in Washington, DC, she graduated in 1897 from the city’s M Street High School, a segregated school known for its rigorous curriculum and exceptional faculty. After high school, […]
learn moreNathan McGill born on this date in 1888. He was an African American lawyer and businessman.
Born in Quincy, FL., Nathan Kellogg McGill was the son of Nathan and Agnes (Zeigler) McGill. He graduated from Cookman Institute in 1909, Boston University in 1912, and received his L.L.B. from Boston University in 1912. McGill began practicing law in 1912 and started his own law practice Jacksonville in 1913. McGill was publisher of the Florida Sentinel in Jacksonville from 1916 to 1920.
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