Arthur Franklin Earley (September 4, 1925 – June 9, 1981) was an American politician who served as a Republican member of the

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

from the 159th district from 1979 to 1981. He was the first black member elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 159th district. He was among the first African Americans to serve in the United States Marine Corps and was a founder of the Montford Point Marine Association.

Early life and education

Earley was born in

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch (1740–1820), John Lynch, the city's populati ...

. He received an A.B. from Howard University, attended

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

and received an

LL.B Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from

Temple University Law School The Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law is the law school of Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1895 and enrolls about 530 students. Student body Admission for fall 2019 entering class was highly comp ...

. He served in World War II in the United States Marine Corps from 1943 to 1946. In 1965, Earley was a legal advisor to the creation of the Montford Point Marine Association, a non-profit, military veteran organization founded to memorialize the legacy of the first African Americans to serve in the United States Marine Corps. Earley was accepted into the Montford Point Marine Association Hall of Fame posthumously in 1999.

Career

Earley served as the assistant district attorney for Delaware County, Pennsylvania from 1971 to 1978. He was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 159th district for the 1979 and 1981 terms. Earley was a member of the Delaware County bar association,

Phi Beta Sigma Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. It was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C. on January 9, 1914, by three young African-American male students with nine other Howard students as char ...

fraternity, Phi Alpha Delta legal fraternity and the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

. He died of a heart attack in office in 1981 and was succeeded by Robert C. Wright.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Earley, Arthur F. 1925 births 1981 deaths 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American politicians African Americans in World War II African-American state legislators in Pennsylvania United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II Howard University alumni Republican Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Temple University alumni United States Marines 20th-century African-American politicians African-American men in politics African-American United States Navy personnel