People, Locations, Episodes

Tue, 08.10.1909

George Crockett, Lawyer, Judge, and Congressman born

*On this date, in 1909, George Crockett was born. He was a Black lawyer, State Judge, and a U. S. Representative from Michigan.

From Jacksonville, Duval County, Fla., George William Crockett Jr. attended the public schools, graduated with a B. A. from Morehouse College, Atlanta, Ga. in 1931, and received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1934. Admitted to the Florida Bar in 1934, he began practicing as a senior attorney in Jacksonville. In 1939, Crockett worked with the United States Department of Labor as a hearing officer and with the Federal Fair Employment Practices Commission in 1943.

He was a senior member of a law firm in Detroit from 1946 to 1966, after which he was elected judge of the recorder’s court in Detroit, serving from 1967 to 1979. While acting corporation counsel for the city of Detroit, Crockett was elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-sixth Congress by special election in 1980, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Charles C. Diggs, Jr., and at the same time, he was elected to the Ninety-seventh Congress.

While in the House of Representatives, he served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Select Committee on Aging.  He used his seat on Foreign affairs to voice his opposition to the South African government’s policy of apartheid. Crockett was reelected to the four succeeding Congresses and served until January 3, 1991, and was not a candidate for re-nomination in 1990 to the One Hundred Second Congress. George Crockett died September 7, 1997.

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