Lawyers are known for providing critical insights that help shape the understanding of law for all. In this article, we celebrate eight Black trailblazers who have revolutionized the legal landscape and profession. By serving as mentors, educators, and trusted colleagues, they have passed on invaluable knowledge and experience to help foster ongoing generations of legal scholars.
1. Macon Bolling Allen (1816–1894)
Macon Bolling Allen moved from Indiana to Portland, Maine in the early 1840s, where he initially was denied from the Maine bar because of issues with his state citizenship. Undeterred, Allen passed the examination for nonresidents in 1844 and became the first licensed Black lawyer in the United States.
Finding legal work in Maine was difficult, however, because many people were unwilling to have a Black man represent them in court. The lack of work prompted Allen to relocate to Boston, Massachusetts, and pass the bar exam in that state.
To supplement his career as an attorney, Allen became a Justice of the Peace in Massachusetts in 1848 and is believed to be the first Black judicial official. He later relocated to Charleston, South Carolina, after the Civil War in 1874 and joined two other Black attorneys to form Whipper, Elliot, and Allen, the first known Black law firm in the U.S. Following the Reconstruction Era, he moved to Washington, D.C., to work as an attorney for the Land and Improvement Association and continue to lay the groundwork for other pioneering Black lawyers until his passing in 1894.
2. Charlotte E. Ray (1850–1911)
Charlotte E. Ray was the first Black female lawyer in the U.S. and the first Black female to practice in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. She began her career teaching at Howard University in 1869, but her real passion was law. It is believed that Ray was accepted into the Howard University School of Law because she applied under the name “C.E. Ray,” due to the university’s reluctance to admit women to its law program.
Ray went on to pass the bar exam in 1872 and open a law practice in Washington, D.C., specializing in commercial law. However, shortly after winning a domestic violence case involving a black woman, she was unable to maintain her practice due to race and gender discrimination.
Ray moved to New York City to work as a teacher in Brooklyn. She was an important figure in the abolitionist and women’s rights movements until her passing at the age of 60.
3. Charles Hamilton Houston (1895–1950)
Charles Hamilton Houston is known as “The Man Who Killed Jim Crow” for his significant contribution to ending segregation. In 1922, he was the only Black student in his class at Harvard Law School and was no stranger to segregation himself. He decided to use his law influence to fight for those with few rights and became the first Black American to be the editor of the Harvard Law Review.
In 1923, Houston received his Juris Doctor degree and passed the Washington D.C. bar. Later in his legal career, he became dean of Howard University School of Law and made that institution the leading training center for civil rights activists pursuing law. As the first special counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Houston was involved in almost every Supreme Court case between 1930 and 1950 that involved civil rights.
In addition to fighting Jim Crow laws, he is known for being a prominent mentor for other Black attorneys. He encouraged a generation of black lawyers to use the law to fight for equality. One notable protégé was Thurgood Marshall, who was the first Black judge on the U.S. Supreme Court.
4. Patricia Roberts Harris (1924–1985)
Born in Chicago to working-class parents, Patricia Roberts Harris defied expectations, graduating top of her class at Howard University and becoming the first Black woman to be dean of a law school. And her presence extended beyond Howard University School of Law.
Harris entered politics, becoming the first Black woman to hold four cabinet positions under three presidents. From Ambassador to Luxembourg to Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, she championed fair housing practices, revitalized struggling cities, and paved the way for a generation of Black women in leadership roles. And she did it all with grace and a fierce commitment to social justice.
Harris’ legacy as a groundbreaking Black lawyer isn’t so much about shattering records as it is about building a more equitable America. She used her legal expertise and political practicality to empower marginalized communities, fight for economic opportunity, and break down racial barriers.
5. Kellis E. Parker (1942–2000)
Kellis Parker was more than a lawyer; he was the first Black professor at Columbia Law School and a pioneer in the civil rights movement. Known for his tenacity and advocacy, Parker dedicated his career to fighting for equality and justice.
Parker’s groundbreaking work demonstrated that the courtroom could be a powerful arena for social change. In his 1975 casebook, Modern Judicial Remedies, he incorporated civil rights remedies such as continuing injunctions in school-desegregation cases into the discussion of common law remedies. Parker’s essays in law journals and other academic forums focused on the experience of Black students in legal education and the importance of making higher education truly inclusive.
He taught us that the law is more than just statutes and precedents. It’s about the people it serves, protects, and inspires to pursue justice with passion and precision.
6. Paulette Brown (1951–Present)
Paulette Brown earned her J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law and started her law practice in 1976. She established her own law firm, Brown, Lofton, Childress & Wolfe, in New Jersey, which grew to be the state’s largest minority firm at the time. In 2005, she became Locke Lord, LLP’s Chief Diversity Officer and a Senior Partner in the firm’s Labor & Employment group before taking the helm as the first Black woman elected as president of the American Bar Association.
During her 2015-2016 term as president of the ABA, Brown established the ABA’s Diversity and Inclusion 360 Commission to probe the issue of representation of minorities and women in the legal profession, the bar association, and the judicial system. She developed recommendations for best practices to advance diversity and inclusion and led the creation, passage, and implementation of ABA's Resolution 113, which urges legal services providers to hire, retain, promote, and expand opportunities for diverse lawyers.
In her career, Brown has been in-house counsel at a number of Fortune 500 companies as well as a municipal court judge. She also served as a former president of the National Bar Association. The New Jersey Law Journal named her as one of the prominent women and minority attorneys in the state of New Jersey. Additionally, she was named one of “The 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America” by the National Law Journal.
7. Benjamin Crump (1969–Present)
Listed among the Most Influential People of 2021 by TIME100, Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 Most Influential African Americans, The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Lawyers, and the 2014 NNPA Newsmaker of the Year, civil rights and personal injury attorney Benjamin Crump has established himself as one of the nation’s foremost lawyers and advocates for social justice.
Crump’s tireless advocacy has led to legislation preventing excessive force and developing implicit bias training and policies. He has represented families in numerous high-profile civil rights cases, including the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor. He also represented residents of Flint, Michigan, who were affected by the poisoned water of the Flint River.
Crump is the President of the National Civil Rights Trial Lawyers Association and previously served as President of the National Bar Association. He was the first Black lawyer to chair the Florida State University College of Law Board of Directors and is the founder and director of the Benjamin Crump Social Justice Institute in Chanhassen, Minnesota. In 2023, the College of Law at St. Thomas University in Miami, Florida, became the Benjamin L. Crump College of Law. The law school is the first in the country named after a practicing Black attorney — a partnership that serves to open doors for minority students pursuing law degrees.
8. Evangeline M. Mitchell (?–Present)
Evangeline Mitchell is a graduate of the University of Iowa College of Law and the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. The lawyer, author, and documentary filmmaker founded Hope’s Promise Publishing, the first niche publishing company dedicated to producing books geared to aspiring Black lawyers. She has authored or edited books including The African American Pre-Law School Advice Guide, Profiles & Essays of Successful African American Law School Applicants, The African American Law School Survival Guide, Conquering the Bar Exam, and Creating Your Personal Strategic Action Plan for Law School Admission Success.
Mitchell is also the founder of the National Black Pre-Law Conference and the National HBCU Pre-Law Summit, the country’s only major national information-sharing, networking, and empowerment events created especially for young Black lawyers, and for current students and alumni of historically Black colleges and universities. She also launched The Bridge Builders Esq. Mentorship Program for Aspiring Black Lawyers with the goal of providing mentoring circles for prospective law students to support them in their journeys to law school.
Through her self-initiated grassroots programming and other efforts and her ability to bring people together around a common cause, she has helped thousands of Black people across the U.S. with law school aspirations better understand what it takes to get into law school and succeed while there. Additionally, she mentors prospective law students across the country.
Continuing Their Legal Legacy
The world of law is vast, and the need for effective and courageous lawyers continues. By drawing inspiration from these Black legal pioneers, the opportunity exists for many more to contribute to the journey to create a more equitable future.
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