Found 2 collections related to African American judges

Born and raised in Brooklyn, by middle-class parents from Barbados, Thomas Russell Jones graduated from St. Johns University Law School in 1937. A first lieutenant during World War II, he led companies of Black troops during the Allied invasion of Normandy, and participated in the liberation of the Alsace province of France. His professional activities included a law practice as a young Black lawyer during the 1950s; his leadership role in the founding of the Unity Democratic Club in Brooklyn in 1960, and of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, together with Senator Robert Kennedy, in 1966; and a prestigious public service career, first in the New York State Assembly for the 17th District in 1962, as a delegate to New York State's Constitutional Convention in 1966, and then, in 1968. as a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court. He retired from the bench in 1978, and redirected his energy into advocacy for children, public speaking, and community activism in general. The Thomas Russell Jones papers document the personal life and the professional career of Thomas Russell Jones, a retired Supreme Court Judge for the State of New York, and an early leader in the struggle for the political and economic empowerment of Brooklyn's Black community. less