September 16−18, 2016

Triumphant the Journey

Celebrating the Stories of Black Alumni

The Firsts

Class of 1869 Class of 1956

George L. Ruffin Lila Fenwick

The Royall Family

In 1778, Isaac Royall, Jr. bequeathed hundreds of acres of land

in central Massachusetts to the Harvard College for the

endowment of a Professorship of Laws or Medicine. Royall’s

land in Massachusetts was purchased in large part by the

proceeds of the sale of his plantations and slaves on Antigua

when his family moved to Massachusetts in the aftermath of a

slave revolt on Antigua.

U.S. Constitution – Signed September 17, 1787

Harvard Law School Founded in 1817

The Harvard Law School was founded in 1817, and it is the

oldest continually operating law school in the United States.

The Catalogue of the Officers and Students

of Harvard University, October 1817.

Dane Hall – Home to the Law School from 1832 to 1882

Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1856)

The Emancipation Proclamation and the

Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

January 1, 1863 December 18, 1865

July 9, 1868 − The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

George L. Ruffin, Class of 1869

The First African American to Graduate from the Harvard Law School

February 3, 1870 − The Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

The Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Archibald H. Grimke − Class of 1874

In 1874, Archibald H. Grimke became the second African American

to graduate from the Harvard Law School.

Clement Garnett Morgan − Class of 1893

In 1893, Clement Garnett Morgan became the first African American to

graduate from both Harvard College and the Harvard Law School.

Harvard Law School Class of 1895

William H. Lewis graduated from the Harvard Law School

as part of the Class of 1895.

William H. Lewis (1895)

Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896)

Justice Henry Billings Brown

Author of the Majority Opinion

Justice John Marshall Harlan

Author of the Dissenting Opinion

William H. Lewis, Sr. (L.L.B. 1895)

In 1911, William H. Lewis, Sr. was appointed Assistant Attorney

General of the United States by President William H. Taft.

Charles Hamilton Houston (L.L.B., S.J.D. 1923)

Langdell Hall − 1931

1936 − Royall Family Coat of Arms Adopted

In 1936, the Royall Family coat of arms was adopted as the seal for

Harvard Law School by Pierre de Chaignon la Rose, an alumnus

and former English professor of Harvard University.

1940 − LDF Founded

William T. Coleman (J.D. 1943(1946))

In 1946, William T. Coleman graduated No. 1 in his class at

Harvard Law School and became the first black U.S. Supreme Court

law clerk.

William H. Hastie, Jr.

In 1949, William H. Hastie, Jr. received a recess appointment to the U.S. Court

of Appeals for the Third Circuit from President Harry S. Truman. Hastie was

later confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 1950, becoming the first African American

appellate judge.

1950s

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

“We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ’separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

Lila Fenwick, Class of 1956

The First African American Woman to Graduate from the Harvard Law School

1960s

1960s

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Selma

1965

2015

BLSA Founded in 1967

1970s

Professor Derrick Bell

In 1971, Derrick A. Bell, Jr. became the first

tenured Black Professor of Law at Harvard Law

School.

Professor Derrick Bell