Fact 5 goes to Macon Bolling Allen, who was the first black lawyer in the United States in July 3, 1844. He earned his license to practice law in Portland, Maine.
Macon was born in Indiana and learned to read and write as a kid, growing up a free man. His first job was a school teacher then he eventually went on to study law and earned his license. He had a hard time getting a job in Maine because white people weren’t willing to hire a black man to represent them in court and very few blacks lived in the state.
By 1845, he moved to Boston, Massachusetts where he took the bar examine again and passed! He teamed up with another black lawyer by the name of Robert Morris and they both opened up the first Black law office in the U.S.
Macon, still challenging himself, went on to take another exam for the Justice of Peace in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. He passed and was known to be the First Black man to have a Judiciary position in the U.S.
After the Civil War, Macon moved to Charleston, South Carolina to open his own practice. Later on he moved to Washington, D.C to work as an attorney for the Land and Improvement Association.
Macon set the bar for blacks to become lawyers. To this day, some blacks WANT representation from someone of their own skin. For example: Johnnie Cochran, well-known celebrity attorney, has represented O.J Simpson, Todd Bridges, Tupac Shakur and even Michael Jackson. AND he won all their cases. It almost seems as if when you have Black representation, they try harder to fight your case for you.
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Featured image photo credit: biography.com
sources: aaregistry.com org; blackpast.org
Danii Gold 