List of African American jurists

This list includes individuals self-identified as African Americans who have made prominent contributions to the field of law in the United States, especially as eminent judges or legal scholars. Individuals who may have obtained law degrees or practiced law, but whose reasons for notability are not closely related to that profession, are generally not listed here.

Attorneys and legal scholars

Others

• Robert Sengstacke Abbott, lawyer, newspaper publisher, editor
• Raymond Pace Alexander, lawyer, politician, civil rights activist
• Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, lawyer
• Anita L. Allen, lawyer, professor
• Helen Elsie Austin, lawyer
• Ferdinand Lee Barnett, lawyer, journalist
• Tom Bradley, lawyer, politician
• Roland Burris, lawyer, politician
• Eunice Carter, lawyer
• William Calvin Chase, lawyer, newspaper editor
• Julius L. Chambers, lawyer, civil rights activist, educator
• Laura Coates, attorney, law professor
• William Thaddeus Coleman Jr., lawyer, politician
• Mo Cowan, lawyer, politician
• Artur Davis, lawyer, politician
• Gordon Davis, lawyer
• James Dean, lawyer, activist, businessperson, deacon, first African-American appointed as a judge in Florida
• Elaine Denniston, lawyer, supported the Apollo program as a keypunch operator
• Carl E. Douglas, lawyer
• B. Kwaku Duren, lawyer, educator, writer, editor
• Larry Elder, lawyer, author, radio show host
• Keith Ellison, lawyer, politician
• Karen Freeman-Wilson, lawyer, judge
• Walter A. Gordon, lawyer
• Fred Gray, civil rights lawyer
• Al Green, lawyer, politician
• A. Leon Higginbotham Jr., lawyer, author, civil rights advocate, federal court judge
• Anita Hill, lawyer, academic
• Curtis Hill, lawyer, prosecutor
• Eric Holder, lawyer, 82nd United States Attorney General
• Sunny Hostin (African American father), lawyer
• Benjamin Hooks, lawyer, minister, civil rights activist
• Valerie Jarrett, lawyer, businesswoman, government official
• Jeh Johnson, lawyer, government official
• Eddie Jordan, lawyer
• Vernon Jordan, lawyer, business executive, civil rights activist
• Florynce Kennedy, lawyer, civil rights advocate
• Leondra Kruger, lawyer
• Reginald Lewis, lawyer, businessman
• William H. Lewis, lawyer
• Lori Lightfoot, lawyer, politician
• Loretta Lynch, lawyer, 83rd United States Attorney General
• Conrad Lynn, lawyer, civil rights activist
• Thurgood Marshall, lawyer, judge
• Thurgood Marshall Jr., lawyer
• Robert Morris, lawyer
• Constance Baker Motley, lawyer, judge, politician, civil rights activist
• Pauli Murray, lawyer, author, priest, civil rights activist
• Ronald Noble, lawyer
• Deval Patrick, lawyer, author, businessman, politician
• Terri Sewell, lawyer, politician
• Bryan Stevenson, lawyer, professor
• Clarence Thomas, lawyer, judge, government official
• Jordan A. Thomas, lawyer, writer
• Larry Thompson, lawyer
• Samuel Wilbert Tucker, lawyer
• Mel Watt, lawyer, politician
• Tony West, lawyer

Judicial officers

This is a dynamic list of African Americans who are or were judges, magistrate judges, court commissioners, or administrative law judges. If known, it will be listed if a judge has served on multiple courts.

See also

• List of African American federal judges
• List of Asian American jurists
• List of Hispanic and Latino American jurists
• List of Jewish American jurists
• List of LGBT jurists in the United States
• List of Native American jurists
• List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in the United States

References

Bibliography

Smith, John Clay Jr. (1999). Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, 1844–1944. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812216851.