List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Tennessee

This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Tennessee. It includes the year in which the men were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are other distinctions such as the first minority men in their state to graduate from law school or become a political figure.

Firsts in Tennessee's history

Lawyers

First African American male: Horatio Nelson Rankin (1868) First African American male to argue a case before the Tennessee Supreme Court: William F. Yardley (1872) in 1883

State judges

First Jewish American male (upon his brief appointment to the Supreme Court of Tennessee): Leopold Lehman in 1892 First African American male (since Reconstruction): Benjamin Hooks (1948) in 1965 First African American male (General Sessions Court): A. A. Birch Jr. (1956) in 1969 First African American male (city court): S.A. Wilbun in 1973 (1973) First African American male (circuit court) S.A. Wilbun in 1978 (1978) First African American male (criminal court): A. A. Birch Jr. (1956) in 1978Upon Birch's appointment as a Criminal Court Judge for the Twentieth District (Davidson County) in 1978 First African American male (Tennessee Supreme Court): George H. Brown in 1980 First African American male (Chief Justice; Tennessee Supreme Court): A. A. Birch Jr. (1956) in 1994 First African American male (Tennessee Court of Appeals): Richard Dinkins in 2008 First Hispanic American male (trial court judge): Hector Sanchez in 2022

Federal judges First African American male (U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee): Odell Horton (1956) in 1980 First African American male (United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee): Curtis L. Collier in 1995 First African American male (U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee): William Joseph Haynes Jr. (1973) in 1999 First Greek American male (Judge and Chief Judge): United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee): Thomas A. Varlan in 2003 and 2012 respectively First African American male from Tennessee (United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit): Andre Mathis in 2022

Assistant United States Attorney

First African American male: Odell Horton (1956)

Assistant District Attorney

First African American males (since Reconstruction): Arthur T. Bennett and A. A. Birch Jr. (1956) respectively around 1965-1966

Public Defender

First African American male: Benjamin Hooks (1948)

Faculty

First African American male law professor: Joseph H. Dismukes in 1883

Firsts in local history Nathan Pride: First African American male to serve as a Judge of the 26th Judicial Circuit (2012). He was also the first African American male to serve as the Jackson City Attorney and the district’s public defender. [Chester, Henderson, and Madison Counties, Tennessee] Prince Albert Ewing: First African American male lawyer in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee A. A. Birch Jr. (1956): First African American male to serve as a prosecutor and judge in Davidson County, Tennessee Martesha L. Johnson (2018) First African American to serve as a Chief Public Defender for Metro Nashville, Davidson County and second woman. Rheubin Taylor: First African American male to serve as the County Attorney for Hamilton County, Tennessee (1994) Gerald Webb: First African American male judge in Hamilton County, Tennessee (2019) Wade Hinton: First African American male to serve as the City Attorney of Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee (2013) Robert L. Carter and H.T. Lockard: First African American male lawyers to argue a case before a Brownsville court (1961; Haywood County, Tennessee) William Francis Yardley (1872): First African American male lawyer in Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee Charles E. Bush: First African American male judge in Montgomery County, Tennessee (1995) General Quarles Boyd: First African American male lawyer in Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee John McClellan Sr.: First African American male to serve as the Justice of the Peace in Putnam County, Tennessee (1972) Thomas Frank Cassels: First African American male to serve as the Attorney General Pro Tem of Shelby County Criminal Court (c. 1880s) Josiah T. Settle (1875): First African American male to serve as a prosecutor in Shelby County, Tennessee Ural B. Adams: First African American male to serve as the Public Defender of Shelby County, Tennessee (1979) Floyd Peete: First African American male to serve as the Chancellor of Shelby County Chancery Court (1990) Tarik Sugarmon: First African American male to serve as a juvenile court judge in Shelby County, Tennessee (2022) S.A. Wilbun: First African American male to serve as the Assistant City Attorney in Memphis, Tennessee (1964) and City Court Judge (1973) in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee John George Morris: First Greek American lawyer in Memphis, Tennessee [Shelby County, Tennessee] Joe Brown: First African American male prosecutor in Memphis, Tennessee [Shelby County, Tennessee]

List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Tennessee

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