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 obtain a law degree or become a political figure.

Firsts in state history

Lawyers

• Sugar T. George:[1][2] First known African American (who was a Creek Freedmen) male lawyer in Oklahoma (c. 1870s)
• Simon R. Walking-Stick (c. 1893):[3] First Cherokee Indian male lawyer in Oklahoma
• Buck Colbert (B.C.) Franklin (1908):[4][1][5] First African American male admitted to practice law in Oklahoma

Judges

• Charles L. Owens (1960):[6][7][8] First African American male judge in Oklahoma (1968)
• Amos T. Hall:[9][10] First African American male elected judge in Oklahoma (1970)

Appellate Court

• David Lewis:[11] First African American male appointed as a Judge (2004) and Presiding Judge of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals

Supreme Court

• Tom Colbert (1982):[12][13] First African American male appointed to the Supreme Court of Oklahoma (2004),[14] as well as serve as its Chief Justice (2013)

District Court

• Michael Burrage (1974):[15][16] First Native American (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) male appointed as a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, Northern District of Oklahoma, and Western District of Oklahoma (1994)
• Bernard M. Jones:[17] First African American male to serve as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma (2019)

Appellate Court

• Jerome Holmes (1988):[18] First African American male to be appointed as a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Oklahoma (2006)

Assistant Attorney General

• Charles L. Owens (1960):[6][7][8] First African American male to become an Assistant Attorney General in Oklahoma (1963)

Political Office

• E. Melvin Porter (1960):[19][20] First African American male (a lawyer) to attain an Oklahoma State Senate seat (1964)

Firsts in local history

Alphabetized by county name

Rogers County

• Steve Pazzo:[21] First Hispanic American male judge in Rogers County, Oklahoma (2010)

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. Jr, J. Clay Smith (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. "Charles Owens's Obituary on Oklahoman". Oklahoman. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
7. "Charles L. Owens, state's first appointed black judge, dies at 86". NewsOK.com. 2016-05-27. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
8. "First African-American judge in Oklahoma dies at 86". KOCO. 2016-06-01. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
9. "Trailblazer's son speaks about black history". Norman Transcript. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
10. "Hall, Amos T. | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture". www.okhistory.org. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
11. "Celebrating Presiding Judge David Lewis – OCCA". okcca.net. Retrieved 2020-03-14.
12. "Oklahoma's first black chief justice stresses importance of role models". NewsOK.com. 2013-01-04. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
13. "Tom Colbert becomes chief justice of Oklahoma state Supreme Court | The City Sentinel". city-sentinel.com. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
14. Upon Colbert's appointment as an Associate Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court in 2004
15. Bond, Jon R.; Smith, Kevin B. (2013-05-29). Analyzing American Democracy: Politics and Political Science. Routledge. ISBN 1135093326.
16. American Indian Report. Falmouth Institute. 2003.
17. "Senator Lankford Celebrates Black History Month by Honoring Oklahomans". Just The Real News Network. 2020-02-14. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
18. "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.
19. "Porter, Edward Melvin | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture". www.okhistory.org. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
20. "Oklahoma's first black state senator dies". NewsOK.com. 2016-07-26. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
21. "First Hispanic judge to serve county". Claremore Daily Progress. November 16, 2010. Retrieved 2019-01-17.