List of first minority male lawyers and judges in North Carolina

This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in North Carolina. 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 obtain a law degree or become a political figure.

Firsts in state history
Mickey Michaux: First African American male to become a U.S. Attorney in North Carolina (1977)

Lawyers
Judges
  • Lacy Maynor:[3][4] First Native American (Lumbee) male judge in North Carolina (c. 1950s)[5]
  • Sammie Chess Jr.:[6][7] First African American male judge in North Carolina (1971)
  • Clifton Johnson:[8] First African American male to serve as a Resident Superior Court Judge in North Carolina (1977)
  • Cy A. Grant Sr.:[9] First African American male to serve as a Senior Resident Superior Court Judge in North Carolina (1988)
  • Sandy Dexter Brooks (1976):[10][11] First Native American (Lumbee) male to serve as a superior court judge in North Carolina (1989)
  • Brad Letts:[12] First Native American (Cherokee) male judge in North Carolina (2000)
  • Albert Diaz (1988):[13][14] First Hispanic American male judge in North Carolina (2001)
  • Lou Olivera:[15] First Latino American male elected as a judge in North Carolina (2012)
District Court
  • Clifton Johnson:[8] First African American male to serve as a Chief District Court Judge in North Carolina (1974)
Court of Appeals
  • Clifton Johnson:[8] First African American male to serve as a Judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals (1982)
Supreme Court
District Court
  • Richard Erwin:[18] First African American male to serve as a federal district court judge in North Carolina (1980)[19]
Appellate Court
  • Albert Diaz (1988):[13][14] First Hispanic American male appointed as a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (2010)

Assistant Attorney General
  • Walter E. Ricks III:[20] First African American male to serve as the Assistant Attorney General of North Carolina (1973)

United States Attorney

Assistant United States Attorneys
  • Henry Frye:[16][17] First African American male to serve as an Assistant United States Attorney in North Carolina (1963)
  • Zeppelin Wong:[23][24] First Asian American male to serve as an Assistant United States Attorney in North Carolina (1963)

District Attorney
  • Carl Fox:[25] First African American male to serve as a District Attorney in North Carolina (1984)

Assistant District Attorney
  • Walter Johnson, Jr.:[26] First African American male to serve as an Assistant District Attorney in North Carolina (c. 1960s)

Bar Association
  • Cressie H. Thigpen, Jr.:[27] First African American male to serve as the President of the North Carolina State Bar Association (2005)

Firsts in local history

Alphabetized by county name

Alamance County

Buncombe County

Cabarrus County

Chatham County

Cumberland County

Davidson County

Durham County

Forsyth County

Franklin County
  • Randolph Baskerville:[39] First African American to serve as a Assistant District Attorney for the 9th Judicial Circuit in North Carolina [Franklin, Granville and Vance Counties, North Carolina]

Granville County
  • Randolph Baskerville:[39] First African American to serve as a Assistant District Attorney for the 9th Judicial Circuit in North Carolina [Franklin, Granville and Vance Counties, North Carolina]

Guilford County

Mecklenburg County

Orange County

Pitt County

Randolph County

Vance County

Wake County

Wayne County

See also

Other topics of interest

References
  1. Smith, Jr., J. Clay (1999-01-01). Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, 1844-1944. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0812216857.
  2. "FIRST INDIAN LAWYER". The Robesonian. August 28, 1972. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
  3. "The 1950s: Long Live the Lumbee". Our State Magazine. 2019-07-29. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  4. Richardson, Marvin M. (2016). "RACIAL CHOICES: THE EMERGENCE OF THE HALIWA-SAPONI INDIAN TRIBE, 1835-1971". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
  5. Upon Maynor becoming a Judge of the Maxton Recorder's Court during the 1950s
  6. Smith, Jessie Carney (2012-12-01). Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events. Visible Ink Press. ISBN 9781578594252.
  7. Writer, Bob Burchette Staff. "Former judge honored with portrait". Greensboro News & Record. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
  8. "JUDGE CLIFTON JOHNSON". www.meckbar.org. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  9. "The Prezell R. Robinson Library Unveils "First African Americans on the North Carolina Bench" Exhibit". Saint Augustine's University. 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  10. "Remembering senior resident Superior Court judge Sandy Dexter Brooks. | The Lumbee Indians". lumbee.library.appstate.edu. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  11. Bennett, Walter (2010-02-15). The Lawyer's Myth: Reviving Ideals in the Legal Profession. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226042565.
  12. Ellison, Quintin (August 8, 2000). "District court judge makes state history". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  13. "Barack Obama: Press Release - President Obama Nominates Judge Albert Diaz and Judge James Wynn to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  14. "U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Albert Diaz to deliver Elon Law Commencement address". E-Net! Elon University News & Information. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  15. "N.C. judge spends night in cell with troubled defendant, a veteran with PTSD". Fox News. 2016-12-01. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  16. Justice At the Top: Nine Distinguished Jurists Serve on State and D.C. Highest Courts. Ebony. April 1983.
  17. CHRISTIAN, PAULA (August 7, 1999). "HENRY FRYE: BREAKING RACIAL BARRIERS\ CHIEF JUSTICE IS JUST FRYE'S LATEST FIRST". Greensboro News and Record. Retrieved 2020-03-11.
  18. Wake Forest University School of Law (Winston-Salem, N. C. ) (1986). Wake Forest University Jurist [Spring 1986]. Wake Forest University.
  19. Upon Erwin becoming a Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina in 1980
  20. People: Walter E. Ricks III. Jet. April 5, 1973.
  21. Smothers, Ronald (1992-05-03). "THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Congressional Races; 2 Strangely Shaped Hybrid Creatures Highlight North Carolina's Primary". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
  22. Upon being appointed to head the office in the Middle District of North Carolina, he was considered the First African American male to become a U.S. Attorney in the South since Reconstruction.
  23. Free China Review. W.Y. Tsao. 1963.
  24. China (Taiwan), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of (1963-11-01). "Overseas Chinese". Taiwan Today. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  25. "Judge Carl Fox Inspires with Black History Month Presentation at Womble Carlyle | Womble Bond Dickinson". www.womblebonddickinson.com. Retrieved 2020-03-12.
  26. "The Pioneers: David Robinson II '64 and Walter Johnson Jr. '64 recall integrating Duke". Duke University School of Law. Retrieved 2020-03-12.
  27. "ATTORNEY CRESSIE H. THIGPEN, JR. IS ELECTED AS NEW CHAIRMAN OF NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY'S BOARD OF TRUSTEES". www.nccu.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
  28. "Civil Rights Movement" (PDF).
  29. Services, ITS Web. "NCCU Alumnus Sworn in as Alamance County Judge". www.nccu.edu. Retrieved 2018-02-13.
  30. Groves, Isaac. "New District Court Judge Brown is a first for Alamance". The Times. Retrieved 2018-02-13.
  31. "North Carolina Central University Law School Alumni Hold Luncheon". The Urban News. 2012-05-11. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
  32. Instauration. Howard Allen Enterprises, Incorporated. 1982.
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  34. "John S. Leary Association of Black Attorneys | Association of Black Attorneys". www.learybar.com. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
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  37. "Documenting the American South: Oral Histories of the American South". docsouth.unc.edu. Retrieved 2018-02-13.
  38. "And Justice for All | ยป Lowell Siler, Durham County Attorney, 2009-Present". Retrieved 2020-03-12.
  39. "Randolph Baskerville". Baskerville & Baskerville, PLLC. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  40. "Guide to the Falkener Family Papers, 1893-2001". David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Retrieved 2018-02-14.
  41. Glenn, Sarah Delia, Gwendolyn. "Spencer Merriweather Wins Race For Mecklenburg District Attorney". www.wfae.org. Retrieved 2020-03-12.
  42. "Pitt County's first Hispanic judge sworn in - Daily Reflector". www.reflector.com. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  43. Vann, Andre (2000). Vance County, North Carolina. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738506630.
  44. "Judge George Greene". NC Heritage. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  45. "Black History Month". City of Goldsboro. Retrieved 2018-02-13.
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