This list includes individuals self-identified as

African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...

who have made prominent contributions to the field of law in the United States, especially as eminent judges or legal scholars. Individuals who may have obtained law degrees or practiced law, but whose reasons for notability are not closely related to that profession, are generally not listed here.

Attorneys and legal scholars

Others

Clarence Thomas official SCOTUS portrait

Robert Sengstacke Abbott Robert Sengstacke Abbott (December 24, 1870 – February 29, 1940) was an American lawyer, newspaper publisher and editor. Abbott founded ''The Chicago Defender'' in 1905, which grew to have the highest circulation of any black-owned newspaper in ...

, lawyer, newspaper publisher, editor * Raymond Pace Alexander, lawyer, politician, civil rights activist * Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, lawyer * Anita L. Allen, lawyer, professor * Helen Elsie Austin, lawyer * Ferdinand Lee Barnett, lawyer, journalist * Tom Bradley, lawyer, politician *

Roland Burris Roland Wallace Burris (born August 3, 1937) is an American politician and attorney who served as Attorney General of Illinois from 1991 to 1995 and as a United States senator from Illinois from 2009 until 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, ...

, lawyer, politician *

Eunice Carter Eunice Roberta Hunton Carter (July 16, 1897 – January 25, 1970) was an American lawyer. She was one of New York's first female African-American lawyers and one of the first African-American prosecutors in the United States. She was active in ...

, lawyer * William Calvin Chase, lawyer, newspaper editor * Julius L. Chambers, lawyer, civil rights activist, educator * Laura Coates, attorney, law professor *

William Thaddeus Coleman Jr. William Thaddeus Coleman Jr. (July 7, 1920 – March 31, 2017) was an American attorney and judge. Coleman was the fourth United States Secretary of Transportation, from March 7, 1975, to January 20, 1977, and the second African American to serv ...

, lawyer, politician * Mo Cowan, lawyer, politician *

Artur Davis Artur Genestre Davis (; born October 9, 1967) is an American attorney and former politician who served as a Democratic Party (United States), Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives for from 2003 to 2011. He was also a ca ...

, lawyer, politician * Gordon Davis, lawyer *

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He became one of the most influential figures in Hollywood in the 1950s, despite a career that lasted only five years. His impact on cinema and popular culture was p ...

, lawyer, activist, businessperson, deacon, first African-American appointed as a judge in Florida * Elaine Denniston, lawyer, supported the Apollo program as a keypunch operator * Carl E. Douglas, lawyer *

B. Kwaku Duren B. Kwaku Duren (born April 14, 1943; a.k.a., Robert Donaldson Duren and Bob D. Duren) is a controversial African American former lawyer, educator, writer, editor, Black Panther, long-time social, political and community activist; and a former c ...

, lawyer, educator, writer, editor *

Larry Elder Laurence Allen Elder (born April 27, 1952) is an American conservative political commentator and talk radio host. He hosts ''The Larry Elder Show'', based in California. The show began as a local program on Los Angeles radio station KABC in 199 ...

, lawyer, author, radio show host *

Keith Ellison Keith Maurice Ellison (born August 4, 1963) is an American politician and lawyer serving since 2019 as the 30th attorney general of Minnesota. A member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Ellison was the U.S. representative for fr ...

, lawyer, politician * Karen Freeman-Wilson, lawyer, judge * Walter A. Gordon, lawyer * Fred Gray, civil rights lawyer *

Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), known professionally as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer. He is best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Tired of ...

, lawyer, politician * A. Leon Higginbotham Jr., lawyer, author, civil rights advocate, federal court judge * Anita Hill, lawyer, academic * Curtis Hill, lawyer, prosecutor *

Eric Holder Eric Himpton Holder Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd United States attorney general from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Holder was the first African Ameri ...

, lawyer, 82nd

United States Attorney General The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the Federal government of the United States, federal government. The attorney general acts as the princi ...

Sunny Hostin Asunción "Sunny" Cummings Hostin (; Cummings; born October 20, 1968) is an American lawyer, author, and television host. She is a co-host on ABC's morning talk show '' The View'', for which she received nominations for Daytime Emmy Awards, ...

(African American father), lawyer *

Benjamin Hooks Benjamin Lawson Hooks (January 31, 1925 – April 15, 2010) was an American civil rights leader and government official. A Baptist minister and practicing attorney, he served as executive director of the National Association for the Advancement ...

, lawyer, minister, civil rights activist *

Valerie Jarrett Valerie June Jarrett ( Bowman; born November 14, 1956) is an American businesswoman and former government official, who has been the chief executive officer of the Obama Foundation since 2021. She was the longest-serving senior advisor to U.S. Pr ...

, lawyer, businesswoman, government official *

Jeh Johnson Jeh Charles Johnson ( "Jay"; born September 11, 1957) is an American lawyer and former government official. He was United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2017. From 2009 to 2012, Johnson was the general counsel of the Departm ...

, lawyer, government official *

Eddie Jordan Edmund Patrick Jordan (30 March 1948 – 20 March 2025) was an Irish motorsport executive, broadcaster, racing driver and businessman. From to , Jordan served as founder and team principal of Jordan in Formula One. Born in Dublin, Jordan in ...

, lawyer *

Vernon Jordan Vernon Eulion Jordan Jr. (August 15, 1935 – March 1, 2021) was an American business executive and civil rights attorney who worked for various civil rights movement organizations before becoming a close advisor to President Bill Clinton. Jo ...

, lawyer, business executive, civil rights activist *

Florynce Kennedy Florynce Rae Kennedy (February 11, 1916 – December 21, 2000) was an American lawyer, radical feminist, civil rights advocate, lecturer, and activist. Early life Kennedy was born in Kansas City, Missouri, to Wiley Kennedy and Zella Rae Jackman ...

, lawyer, civil rights advocate * Leondra Kruger, lawyer *

Reginald Lewis Reginald Francis Lewis (December 7, 1942 – January 19, 1993), was an American businessman. He was one of the richest Black American men in the 1980s, and the first African-American to build a billion-dollar company: TLC Beatrice Internationa ...

, lawyer, businessman * William H. Lewis, lawyer *

Lori Lightfoot Lori Elaine Lightfoot (born August 4, 1962) is an American politician and attorney who was the mayor of Chicago#List of mayors, 56th mayor of Chicago from 2019 until 2023. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she ...

, lawyer, politician *

Loretta Lynch Loretta Elizabeth Lynch (born May 21, 1959) is an American attorney who served as the 83rd attorney general of the United States from 2015 to 2017. She was appointed by President Barack Obama to succeed Eric Holder and previously served as the ...

, lawyer, 83rd

Conrad Lynn Conrad Joseph Lynn (November 4, 1908 – November 16, 1995) was an African-American civil rights lawyer and activist known for providing legal representation for activists, including many unpopular defendants. Among the causes he supported as a la ...

, lawyer, civil rights activist *

Thurgood Marshall Thoroughgood "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 C ...

, lawyer, judge * Thurgood Marshall Jr., lawyer * Robert Morris, lawyer * Constance Baker Motley, lawyer, judge, politician, civil rights activist *

Pauli Murray Anna Pauline "Pauli" Murray (November 20, 1910 – July 1, 1985) was an American civil rights activist, advocate, legal scholar and theorist, author and – later in life – an Episcopal priest. Murray's work influenced the civil r ...

, lawyer, author, priest, civil rights activist *

Ronald Noble Ronald Kenneth "Ron" Noble (born September 24, 1956) is an American law enforcement officer who served as the secretary-general of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) from 2000 to 2014. He was the organization's first A ...

, lawyer *

Deval Patrick Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was the first African Americans, African-American Governor of Massachusetts and the first Democratic Pa ...

, lawyer, author, businessman, politician *

Terri Sewell Terrycina Andrea "Terri" Sewell (; born January 1, 1965) is an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she has served since 2011 as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. repre ...

, lawyer, politician *

Bryan Stevenson Bryan Stevenson (born November 14, 1959) is an American lawyer, social justice activist, and law professor at New York University School of Law, and the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative. Based in Montgomery, Alabam ...

, lawyer, professor *

Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served since 1991 as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. President George H. W. Bush nominated him to succeed Thurgood Marshall. Afte ...

, lawyer, judge, government official * Jordan A. Thomas, lawyer, writer * Larry Thompson, lawyer *

Samuel Wilbert Tucker Samuel Wilbert Tucker (June 18, 1913 – October 19, 1990) was an American lawyer and a cooperating attorney with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). His civil rights career began as he organized a 1939 sit-in ...

, lawyer * Mel Watt, lawyer, politician * Tony West, lawyer

Judicial officers

This is a dynamic list of

who are or were

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

judges, court commissioners, or

administrative law judge An administrative law judge (ALJ) in the United States is a judge and trier of fact who both presides over trials and adjudicates claims or disputes involving administrative law, thus involving administrative units of the executive branch of go ...

s. If known, it will be listed if a judge has served on multiple courts.

References

Bibliography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jurists, African American Lists of African-American people

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

Attorneys and legal scholars

Others

Judicial officers

See also

References

Bibliography