This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Delaware. 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 graduate from law school or become a political figure.
Firsts in Delaware's history edit
Lawyers edit
- First Jewish American male: Aaron Finger (1912)[1]
- First African American male: Louis L. Redding (1929)[2]
State judges edit
- First Jewish American male: Aaron Finger (1912) in 1917[1]
- First African American male: Sidney Clark (1956) in 1961[3][4]
- First African American male (Delaware Superior Court): Joshua W. Martin III in 1982[5][6][7]
- First African American male (Delaware Supreme Court): N. Christopher Griffiths in 2023[8]
Federal judges edit
- First African American male (U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware): Gregory M. Sleet (1976) in 1998[9]
- First African American male (magistrate; Southern District Court of Delaware): Courtney Houston[10]
United States Attorney edit
- First African American male: Gregory M. Sleet (1976)[9]
Delaware State Bar Association edit
Firsts in local history edit
- Leonard Williams (1959):[11][12][13] First African American male to serve on the Wilmington Municipal Court (1966)[14] [New Castle County, Delaware]
See also edit
Other topics of interest edit
References edit
- ^ a b Carpenter II, E. N. "Memories of a Lucky Delaware Lawyer" (PDF). Delaware Lawyer. 19 (3).
- ^ "Louis L. Redding, first Black lawyer in Delaware and civil rights pioneer". African American Registry. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
- ^ "History of the Former Municipal Court of Wilmington - Court of Common Pleas - Delaware Courts - State of Delaware". courts.delaware.gov. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
- ^ Clark, Sidney J. (1998). "The Road to Delaware" (PDF). Delaware Lawyer. 16 (2): 30–33.
- ^ a b "Delaware Grapevine". www.delawaregrapevine.com. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
- ^ a b "Race and the Criminal Justice System in Delaware". ACLU Delaware. 2013-10-03. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
- ^ a b "Meet Some of Delaware's 2016 Top Lawyers". Delaware Today. 2016-10-27. Retrieved 2020-03-14.
- ^ "State Supreme Court Diversity — May 2023 Update | Brennan Center for Justice". www.brennancenter.org. 2019-07-23. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
- ^ a b "Hon. Gregory Sleet | Rutgers Law". law.rutgers.edu. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
- ^ "COURTNEY HOUSTON". News Journal. 24 September 2005. ProQuest 1967199503.
- ^ Albright, Matthew. "Courthouse to be named after judge Leonard Williams". delawareonline. Retrieved 2020-03-14.
- ^ Carroll, Beatrice Patton (Summer 1998). "Leonard L. Williams" (PDF). Delaware Lawyer.
- ^ Hayman, Robert L.; Ware, Leland (November 2010). Choosing Equality: Essays and Narratives on the Desegregation Experience. Penn State Press. ISBN 978-0-271-04803-1.
- ^ Upon his judicial appointment, Williams became the second African American judge in the state of Delaware after Sidney Clark.