Anaya Nolan
Derrick Bell, the first tenured Black professor at Harvard Law School, was a prominent civil rights activist, lawyer, and academic. Bell's career began in 1957 when he graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where he was the only Black graduate of his class. He went on to work with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department, resigning in 1959 when asked to withdraw his membership from the NAACP. After a decade as a civil rights lawyer, Bell moved into academia, starting his teaching career at the University of Southern California in 1967. In 1969, he was hired as a lecturer at Harvard Law School, and in 1971, he became the school's first Black tenured professor. Throughout his career, Bell advocated for diversity in faculty hiring, notably taking a leave of absence from Harvard in 1990 to protest the lack of Black female professors.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name | Derrick Albert Bell Jr. |
| Date of Birth | November 6, 1930 |
| Date of Death | October 5, 2011 |
| Education | University of Pittsburgh School of Law |
| Year of Appointment as First Black Law Professor | 1971 |
| Institution | Harvard Law School |
| Position | Tenured Professor |
| Achievements | Established a new course in civil rights law; wrote several books and articles on race and equality; credited as one of the originators of critical race theory |
| Legacy | Inspired and challenged generations of colleagues and students with his passion and progressive views on civil rights and racial justice |
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What You'll Learn
- Derrick Bell: Harvard's first Black tenured professor
- Kellis Parker: Columbia Law School's first Black professor
- Mahala Ashley Dickerson: first Black woman to practice law in Alabama
- Constance Baker Motley: first Black woman appointed to a federal judgeship
- Macon Bolling Allen: first licensed Black lawyer in the US
Derrick Bell: Harvard's first Black tenured professor
Derrick Albert Bell Jr. was born on November 6, 1930, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and passed away on October 5, 2011. He was a lawyer, legal scholar, teacher, and civil rights activist. He was also Harvard Law School's first tenured African-American professor, appointed in 1971.
Bell was the first member of his family to attend college. He attended Duquesne University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1952. He then served as an officer in the United States Air Force for two years. In 1957, he received a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where he was the only Black graduate in his class. After graduating, he joined the Department of Justice, working in the Civil Rights Division. He was one of the few Black lawyers working for the Justice Department at the time.
In 1960, Bell married Jewel Hairston, a civil rights activist and educator, with whom he had three sons. He later married Janet Dewart. Bell's career in civil rights law spanned decades, and he worked on hundreds of cases for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, supervising over 300 school desegregation cases in Mississippi.
In 1969, Black Harvard Law School students protested for a minority faculty member, and Derek Bok hired Bell as a lecturer, promising that he would be "the first but not the last" of his Black hires. Two years later, in 1971, Bell became Harvard Law School's first tenured Black professor. During his time at Harvard, he established a new course in civil rights law, published a book, "Race, Racism, and American Law", and produced numerous law review articles.
Bell's time at Harvard was marked by his unwavering commitment to racial equality and his willingness to take a stand against injustice. In 1980, he resigned from his position to protest the school's hiring procedures, specifically the absence of women of colour on the staff. His protest sparked national news coverage and inspired students. After leaving Harvard, Bell continued his academic career, serving as a visiting professor at New York University School of Law from 1991 until his passing in 2011. He also held the position of Dean of the University of Oregon School of Law from 1980 to 1985, where he taught a course on "Race, Racism, and the Law" using his textbook.
Throughout his five-decade career, Bell exposed the persistence of racism and challenged students, readers, and critics with his progressive views and uncompromising candour. He is remembered as a pioneer in critical race theory and a champion for equality, leaving a lasting impact on the legal academy and inspiring generations to come.
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Kellis Parker: Columbia Law School's first Black professor
In 1972, Kellis E. Parker became Columbia Law School's first Black full-time professor. Parker, a civil rights activist, scholar, and jazz musician, was a beloved mentor to a generation of students. His appointment marked a new era for Columbia Law School, as the faculty took much-needed steps to reflect the diversity of its student body and the society in which its graduates practised.
Parker's unique upbringing and experiences deeply influenced his scholarship and teaching style. Growing up in the Jim Crow South and being a musician, Parker brought a distinctive perspective to his classes. He used jazz as a framework for interpreting the law and often incorporated literary and musical sources into his lectures. For example, in his music-contracts class, Jazz Roots Revisited: The Law the Slaves Made, Parker traced the improvised laws and social norms created by Black communities before and after slavery. He drew from sources such as the Br'er Rabbit folktales and Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God to illustrate these concepts.
Beyond his academic contributions, Parker left a lasting impact on both his students and colleagues. He encouraged his students to believe in themselves and develop their own personal touch, radiating a "perceptible brilliance." Eben Moglen, a Professor of Law, recalled Parker as "a teacher of intellectual liberation, a mentor who got the best from everyone, a musician who improved everybody else's playing."
Prior to Parker's appointment at Columbia, Derrick Bell became the first Black law professor to achieve tenure at Harvard Law School in 1971. Bell, a distinguished legal scholar, writer, and civil rights advocate, played a pivotal role in advancing racial justice and equality. He established a new course in civil rights law at Harvard, examining the impact of race and racism on law-making. Bell's influence extended beyond Harvard, as he also served as Dean of the University of Oregon School of Law and as a visiting professor at New York University School of Law.
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Mahala Ashley Dickerson: first Black woman to practice law in Alabama
Mahala Ashley Dickerson, born on October 12, 1912, in Montgomery County, Alabama, was the first Black woman to be admitted to the Alabama State Bar in 1948. Dickerson, who grew up on a plantation inherited by her father, was inspired to pursue a career in law due to an incident where a lawyer helped her aunt secure compensation after her uncle fell down an elevator shaft. This inspiration, coupled with a lifelong friendship with civil rights activist Rosa Parks, shaped Dickerson's path toward advocating for women's and minorities' rights.
Dickerson graduated cum laude with a degree in sociology from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1935. Following a brief marriage to Henry Dickerson from 1938 to 1939, she enrolled at the Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C., graduating cum laude in 1948. She was one of four women in her graduating class.
Upon receiving her law degree, Dickerson returned to Alabama and established law offices in Montgomery and Tuskegee, becoming the first African American female attorney admitted to the Alabama State Bar. She faced significant gender and racial discrimination within the legal establishment and various bar associations, including difficulty finding the required sponsors for joining the Alabama Bar. Despite these challenges, Dickerson persevered and went on to have a distinguished legal career.
In 1951, Dickerson married Frank R. Beckwith, an attorney and politician from Indianapolis, Indiana, and moved there with her three sons. She became the second Black woman admitted to the Indiana bar in 1951. After her divorce from Beckwith in 1958, Dickerson ventured to Alaska, where she established a 160-acre homestead, becoming the state's first female Black homesteader. She passed the Alaska bar exam, becoming Alaska's first Black lawyer and one of the few female attorneys practising in the state. Dickerson continued her advocacy for workers' rights and equal pay, taking on notable cases, such as an equal-pay suit on behalf of a female professor at the University of Alaska.
Throughout her career, Dickerson faced discrimination but remained unwavering in her commitment to defending her clients' rights. Her accomplishments as a trailblazer in the legal profession and her advocacy for civil rights and women's activism earned her numerous honours. In 1983, she became the first African American president of the National Association of Women Lawyers, serving until 1984. Dickerson was also recognised by the American Bar Association, receiving the Margaret Brent Award in 1995. In 1998, she published an autobiography, "Delayed Justice for Sale," reflecting on her life and views on social justice. Dickerson practised law until her death on February 19, 2007, in Wasilla, Alaska, leaving behind a legacy of breaking down racial and gender barriers in the legal profession.
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Constance Baker Motley: first Black woman appointed to a federal judgeship
Derrick Albert Bell Jr. (1930-2011) was the first Black professor to achieve tenure at Harvard Law School. He was also one of the first African American deans in a non-historically Black law school.
Now, onto the topic of Constance Baker Motley, the first Black woman appointed to a federal judgeship.
Constance Baker Motley, born on September 14, 1921, in New Haven, Connecticut, was the ninth of twelve children. Her parents, Rachel Huggins and McCullough Alva Baker, were immigrants from the Caribbean Island of Nevis. Baker joined the local chapter of the NAACP after being denied admission to a public beach and skating rink due to her race. She graduated from New York University in 1943 and earned her law degree from Columbia University in New York City in 1946. She then joined the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund as a staff attorney, working with the organization for over twenty years.
In 1966, Baker was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, becoming the first Black woman to be appointed to a federal judgeship. Despite opposition from Southern conservatives in the Senate, she was eventually confirmed and went on to serve as chief judge from 1982 to 1986 and as a senior judge until her death in 2005.
Throughout her career, Baker was a key strategist in the civil rights movement and successfully argued several landmark civil rights cases before the Supreme Court. She was the first Black woman to argue before the Supreme Court and won nine out of ten of these cases. Baker also served as a state senator and Borough President of Manhattan before becoming a federal judge.
Baker's accomplishments have been widely recognized, including receiving the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously in 2006 and the Ford Freedom Award in 2011. She has also been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame and had a commemorative postage stamp issued in her honor. Additionally, several locations have been renamed to honor her, including the Constance Baker Motley Recreation Center in New York City and the Judge Constance Baker Motley Preserve in Chester, Connecticut.
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Macon Bolling Allen: first licensed Black lawyer in the US
Macon Bolling Allen, born Allen Macon Bolling, was the first African American to become a lawyer in the United States. He was born in Indiana in 1816 and grew up as a free man. Allen learned to read and write and worked as a schoolteacher, further refining his reading and writing skills. In the early 1840s, he moved to Portland, Maine, to study law as an apprentice to Samuel Fessenden, a local abolitionist and attorney.
Allen's first attempt to get admitted to the Maine bar was rejected by the Portland District Court in April 1844, as he did not meet the state's citizenship requirement. He was a resident of Massachusetts at the time, and the court's decision was influenced by his race. Undeterred, Allen pursued admission by examination, which did not require citizenship. Despite facing a hostile examination committee, he passed the Maine bar exam and was granted his license to practice law in Maine on July 3, 1844. This made him the first African American lawyer in the nation.
However, Allen faced difficulties finding legal work in Maine due to racial discrimination and the small African American population in the predominantly white state. As a result, he moved to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1845, where he passed the bar exam in that state. Allen then opened the first Black law office in the United States with Robert Morris. He later became a Massachusetts Justice of the Peace in 1847.
Following the American Civil War, Allen moved to Charleston, South Carolina, to provide legal services to formerly enslaved people in the South. He was elected as a criminal court and probate judge in Charleston County in 1873 and 1876, defeating the white incumbent. After the Reconstruction Era ended in 1877, he relocated to Washington, D.C., where he continued to practice law until his death. Macon Bolling Allen passed away in 1894 at the age of 78, leaving behind a legacy as a trailblazer in the legal profession for African Americans.
Regarding the first Black law professor, that distinction goes to Derrick Bell, who became Harvard Law School's first tenured Black professor in 1971. Bell was a prominent legal scholar, writer, and advocate for equality. He joined the Harvard Law School faculty as a lecturer in 1969 and later gave up his professorship in 1992 to protest the school's hiring practices, specifically the lack of women of colour on the faculty.
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Frequently asked questions
Derrick Bell became the first tenured Black law professor at Harvard Law School in 1971.
Derrick Albert Bell Jr. was a legal scholar, teacher, writer, and civil rights advocate. He was also one of the first African-American deans in a non-historically Black law school.
Bell was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on November 6, 1930, to a working-class family.
Bell wrote several books and articles on issues of race and equality in the United States, including his most famous work, "Race, Racism and American Law," published in 1973.
Kellis E. Parker became the first Black full-time professor at Columbia Law School in 1972. He was a scholar, jazz musician, civil rights activist, and a beloved mentor to many students.
