List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Massachusetts
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This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Massachusetts. It includes the year in which the men were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are men who achieved other distinctions such becoming the first in their state to obtain a law degree or become a political figure.
Firsts in state history
George Lewis Ruffin: First African American male law graduate (1869) and judge in (1883) Massachusetts
Law Degree
- First African American male law graduate: George Lewis Ruffin (1869) in 1869[1][2][3]
Lawyers
- First African American male: Macon Bolling Allen in 1845)[4][5]
- First Chinese American male: Harry Dow in 1929[6]
- First Greek-born male: James Liacos[7]
- First undocumented male: Antonio Massa Viana around 2016[8]
State judges
- First African American male (justice of the peace): Macon Bolling Allen in 1847[4][5]
- First African American male (judge): George Lewis Ruffin (1869) in 1883[1][2][3]
- First African American male (superior court): Edward Gourdin in 1958[9]
- First Syrian Lebanese American male: Elias Shamon during the 1960s[10]
- First Hispanic American male (Cuban American): Charles A. Grabau (1974) from 1979-1985[11][12]
- First Asian American male: Richard J. Chin (1974) from 1989-1993[13][14]
- First openly LGBT male: Dermot Meagher from 1989-2006[15][16][17]
- First African American male (Presiding Judge; district court): Elwood S. McKenney[18]
- First Greek American male (Chief Justice; Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts): Paul J. Liacos in 1989[19]
- First African American male (Justice; Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts): Roderick L. Ireland (1975) in 1997 and 2000 respectively[20]
- First Portuguese American male (Massachusetts Appeals Court): Phillip Rapoza in 1998[21]
- First Albanian American male: Robert N. Tochka in 2014[22]
- First Armenian American male (Massachusetts Superior Court): Raffi Yessayan in 2015[23]
- First Indian American male (Massachusetts Housing Court): Neil Sherring in 2018[24]
Attorney General of Massachusetts
- First African American male: Edward Brooke (1948) in 1962[25][26][27]
Assistant Attorney General of Massachusetts
- First African American male: David S. Nelson in 1971[28] t
Massachusetts Bar Association
- First African American male (president): Wayne Budd from 1979-1980[29]
- First openly LGBT male (president): Mark Mason in 2006[30]
- First Hispanic American male (president): Robert Harnais in 2015[31]
Firsts in local history
- Isaac Borenstein:[32] First Latino American male to serve as a Judge of the Lawrence District Court (1986) [Essex County, Massachusetts]
- José Ángel Navarro III:[33] First Latino male to earn a law degree from Harvard University [Middlesex County, Massachusetts]
- George Lewis Ruffin (1869):[1][2][3] First African American male to earn a law degree from Harvard University [Middlesex County, Massachusetts]
- John Ward:[34] First openly LGBT male lawyer in Boston, Massachusetts (1977) [Suffolk County, Massachusetts]
- Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. (1994):[35] First African American male to serve as a faculty dean at Harvard University [Middlesex County, Massachusetts]
- Ralph C. Martin, Jr.:[36] First African American male to serve as the District Attorney for Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1992-2002)
- Andrew Manual Crespo:[37] First Latino American male to serve as the President of the Harvard Law Review [Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts]
- Takeo Kikuchi (1877):[26] First Japanese male to graduate from the Boston University School of Law. He would later co-found Chuo University in Tokyo, Japan. [Suffolk County, Massachusetts]
- Emanuel Hewlett (1877):[26][38] First African American male to graduate from the Boston University School of Law [Suffolk County, Massachusetts]
- Harry Elam (1951):[26][39] First African American male appointed as a Judge of the Boston Municipal Court (1971) [Suffolk County, Massachusetts]
- David Hall:[40] First African American male to serve as the Dean of Northeastern University School of Law (1993)
See also
Other topics of interest
- List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States
- List of first women lawyers and judges in Massachusetts
References
- ^ a b c Sollors, Werner; Titcomb, Caldwell; Underwood, Thomas A. (March 1993). Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience at Harvard and Radcliffe. NYU Press. ISBN 9780814779736.
- ^ a b c Adams, Stacy Hawkins. "George Lewis Ruffin". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
- ^ a b c "George Lewis Ruffin". Massachusetts Hall of Black Achievement. 2011-01-01.
- ^ a b Hornby, D. Brock (Spring 2020). "History Lessons: Instructive Legal Episodes From Maine's Early Years — Episode 1: Becoming a Lawyer." Green Bag 2d. 23: 195.
- ^ a b "America's first Black Lawyer, Macon B. Allen". African American Registry. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
- ^ "First Chinese lawyer in Mass. honored at alma mater Suffolk University". sampan.org. Retrieved 2017-09-23.
- ^ "Liacos finishes family odyssey from Greece to the high court", The Boston Globe, April 15, 1989.
- ^ Sacchetti, Maria (July 26, 2016). "He was a star law student. And an undocumented immigrant. He passed the Mass. bar, anyway. - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
- ^ "B.U. Bridge: Boston University community's weekly newspaper". www.bu.edu. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
- ^ Holloran, Peter C. (2017-05-01). Historical Dictionary of New England. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-0219-0.
- ^ Nuestro. Nuestro Publications. 1980.
- ^ "GRABAU'S WILLINGNESS TO TAKE STANDS FINDS HIM IN SPOTLIGHT AGAIN". highbeam.com. The Boston Globe March 30, 1989. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02.
- ^ Asian-American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts. "AALAM's History". aalam.org.
- ^ Columnist, Adrian Walker-. "A judge's plea for justice - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
- ^ Chuck Colbert, A Judicial Orientation Archived 2011-04-27 at the Wayback Machine, Boston Spirit Magazine (November 18, 2008).
- ^ Loren King, Retired Judge Dermot Meagher shares tales from the inner sanctum in his new book, "Judge Sentences.", Provincetown Banner (September 18, 2010).
- ^ King, Loren. "Retired Judge Dermot Meagher shares tales from the inner sanctum in his new book, "Judge Sentences."". Wicked Local Provincetown. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
- ^ admin (2003-11-24). "Elwood S. McKenney". Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
- ^ "Paul Julian Liacos | Mass.gov". www.mass.gov. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
- ^ "Roderick Ireland - College of Social Sciences and Humanities". College of Social Sciences and Humanities. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
- ^ "Chief Justice Phillip Rapoza | Mass.gov". www.mass.gov. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
- ^ "Judge Robert N. Tochka for Massachusetts Superior Court in Massachusetts". Trellis. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
- ^ Boyajian, David (2015-02-04). "Raffi Yessayan Now a Massachusetts Superior Court Justice". The Armenian Weekly. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
- ^ Making History:First Indian-American Judge,MA Housing Court, Neil Sherring's Journey,Chai with Manju / INE News & Multimedia, retrieved 2022-04-14
- ^ "Ed Brooke won and lost with grace". The Herald News, Fall River, MA. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
- ^ a b c d "A History of Diversity at BU Law | School of Law". www.bu.edu. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
- ^ Martin, Douglas (2015-01-03). "Edward W. Brooke III, 95, Senate Pioneer, Is Dead". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
- ^ "About - Lynch School of Education and Human Development - Boston College". www.bc.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
- ^ "Lawyers Journal-2011-June". www.massbar.org. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
- ^ "Mark Mason's Story of Endurance". www.massbar.org. September 2006. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
- ^ "Robert Harnais becomes first Hispanic president of Mass. Bar Association". masslive.com. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
- ^ "ISAAC BORENSTEIN // Juez retirado de la Corte Superior de Massachusetts". El Planeta (in Spanish). 2011-08-09. Retrieved 2022-07-28.
- ^ Mendoza, Sylvia (December 2019). "A Voice At The Table". www.hispanicoutlook.com. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ^ "A career spent fighting for the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals". Boston University. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
- ^ Chotiner, Isaac (2019-03-07). "A Harvard Law School Professor Defends His Decision to Represent Harvey Weinstein". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
- ^ Butterfield, Fox (1992-07-31). "Black Republican Is Appointed District Attorney for Boston Area". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-06-28.
- ^ "President Biden to Sign Executive Order Creating the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States". The White House. 2021-04-09. Retrieved 2022-02-20.
- ^ "DC Law Said African Americans Could Eat Anywhere. The Reality Was Different. | School of Law". www.bu.edu. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
- ^ Reporter, Bryan Marquard-. "Harry J. Elam Sr., 90, pioneering black jurist in Massachusetts - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
- ^ "SE: David Hall Returns for Landon Lecture, Reflects on K-State's Impact". Kansas State University Athletics. Retrieved 2022-03-15.