List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Oklahoma

This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Oklahoma. 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 graduate from law school or become a political figure.

Firsts in state history

Lawyers

• First known African American/Creek Freedmen male to practice: Sugar T. George (c. 1870s) ^{[1] [2]}
• First Cherokee Indian male: Simon R. Walking-Stick (c. 1893) ^[3]
• First African American male (admitted to state bar): Buck Colbert (B.C.) Franklin (1908) ^{[4] [1] [5]}
• First undocumented male: Javier Hernandez in 2019 ^{[6] [7]}

State judges

• First African American male: Charles L. Owens (1960) in 1968 ^{[8] [9] [10]}
• First African American male (elected): Amos T. Hall in 1970 ^{[11] [12]}
• First African American male: David Lewis in 2004 ^{[13] [14]} (2004)
• First African American male (Supreme Court of Oklahoma): Tom Colbert (1982) in 2004 ^{[15] [16] [17]}
• First African American male (Presiding Judge; Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals): David Lewis ^{[13] [14]}
• First African American male (Chief Justice; Supreme Court of Oklahoma): Tom Colbert (1982) in 2013 ^{[15] [16] [17]}
• First Native American (Chickasaw Nation) male (Supreme Court of Oklahoma): Dustin Rowe in 2019 ^[18]

Federal judges

• First Native American male (Cherokee Nation) (United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma): Frank Howell Seay in 1979 ^[19]
• First Native American (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) male (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, Northern District of Oklahoma, and Western District of Oklahoma): Michael Burrage (1974) beginning 1994 ^{[20] [21]}
• First African American male (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit): Jerome Holmes (1988) in 2006 ^[22]
• First African American male (United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma): Bernard M. Jones in 2019 ^[23]

Assistant Attorney General

• First African American male: Charles L. Owens (1960) in 1963 ^{[8] [9] [10]}

Political Office

• First African American male (Oklahoma State Senate): E. Melvin Porter (1960) in 1964 ^{[24] [25]}

Firsts in local history

• David Lewis: ^{[13] [14]} First African American male to serve as a district judge in Comanche County, Oklahoma (1999)
• Steve Pazzo: ^[26] First Hispanic American male judge in Rogers County, Oklahoma (2010)
• Carlos Chappelle: ^[27] First African American male to serve as a Presiding District Judge in Tulsa County, Oklahoma (2013)

See also

• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in the United States

Other topics of interest

• List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States
• List of first women lawyers and judges in Oklahoma

References

1. Smith, J. Clay Jr. (1999). Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, 1844-1944. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN   0812216857.
2. Phillips, Kimberley Louise; Pinson, Hermine D. (2003). Critical Voicings of Black Liberation: Resistance and Representations in the Americas. LIT Verlag Münster. ISBN   9783825867393.
3. Smith, Frank Charles; Proctor, Lucien Brock; Chapin, Heman Gerald; Harvey, Richard Selden (1893-01-01). The American Lawyer. Stumpf & Steurer.
4. Ph.D, Reed Ueda (2017-09-21). America's Changing Neighborhoods: An Exploration of Diversity through Places [3 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. ISBN   9781440828652.
5. "Franklin, Buck Colbert (1879–1960) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed". blackpast.org. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
6. Rios, Miguel. "Cover: Shadow of doubt". Oklahoma Gazette. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
7. Fox, Carrie (September 8, 2021). "History Hiding in Plain Sight". www.smithsonianmag.com. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
8. "Charles Owens's Obituary on Oklahoman". Oklahoman. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
9. "Charles L. Owens, state's first appointed black judge, dies at 86". NewsOK.com. 2016-05-27. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
10. "First African-American judge in Oklahoma dies at 86". KOCO. 2016-06-01. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
11. "Trailblazer's son speaks about black history". Norman Transcript. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
12. "Hall, Amos T. | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture". www.okhistory.org. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
13. "Celebrating Presiding Judge David Lewis – OCCA". okcca.net. Retrieved 2020-03-14.
14. Mercadante, Natascha. "Lawton Legends: David Lewis". KSWO. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
15. "Oklahoma's first black chief justice stresses importance of role models". NewsOK.com. 2013-01-04. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
16. "Tom Colbert becomes chief justice of Oklahoma state Supreme Court | The City Sentinel". city-sentinel.com. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
17. Upon Colbert's appointment as an Associate Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court in 2004
18. "Courting an Indigenous world view". Indian Country Today. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
19. Baca, Lawrence (2010). "President's Message: 35 Years of the FBA Indian Law Conference". The Federal Lawyer.
20. Bond, Jon R.; Smith, Kevin B. (2013-05-29). Analyzing American Democracy: Politics and Political Science. Routledge. ISBN   978-1135093327.
21. American Indian Report. Falmouth Institute. 2003.
22. "Oklahoma judge on 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals defies expectations in same-sex marriage case". NewsOK.com. 2014-08-10. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
23. "Senator Lankford Celebrates Black History Month by Honoring Oklahomans". Just The Real News Network. 2020-02-14. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
24. "Porter, Edward Melvin | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture". www.okhistory.org. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
25. "Oklahoma's first black state senator dies". NewsOK.com. 2016-07-26. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
26. "First Hispanic judge to serve county". Claremore Daily Progress. November 16, 2010. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
27. BRAUN, BILL. "Carlos Chappelle to become Tulsa County's first black presiding judge". Tulsa World. Retrieved 2022-02-05.