Francis E. Rivers (died July 28, 1975) was an American lawyer and judge who served in the New York State Assembly. He was a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

. His father,

David Foote Rivers David Foote Rivers (July 18, 1859 – July 5, 1941) was a theologian and politician in the United States. An African American and a Republican Party (United States), Republican, he served as a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives for F ...

, was a state representative in

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. He was the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

to serve on the City Court of New York City (now the

New York City Civil Court The Civil Court of the City of New York is a civil court of the New York State Unified Court System in New York City that decides lawsuits involving claims for damages up to $25,000 and includes a small claims part (small claims court) for cases in ...

). In 1932,

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in ...

wrote to Rivers seeking information about Dr. Hinton of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

who Du Bois wanted to nominate for a

Spingarn Medal The Spingarn Medal is awarded annually by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for an outstanding achievement by an African American. The award was created in 1914 by Joel Elias Spingarn Joel Elias Spingarn (May ...

. In 1966 he presented an award to

Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...

. Several prominent members of the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

threatened to quit when Rivers was denied membership in the organization, which did not have any African American members. He defeated incumbent Abraham Grenthal in the 1929 election for state Assembly and served in the

153rd New York State Legislature The 153rd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 1 to April 12, 1930, during the second year of Franklin D. Roosevelt's governorship, in Albany. Background Under th ...

in 1930.

References

Year of birth missing 1975 deaths African-American judges African-American state legislators in New York (state) 20th-century American legislators New York (state) state court judges 20th-century American judges Municipal judges in the United States Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly African-American men in politics {{NewYork-NYAssembly-stub

See also

References