Celebrating Our History

BY AYEOLA WILLIAMS

Everything that I’ve done, I’ve been blessed by the people who have come before me. – Pflugerville Councilmember Rudy Metayer

Black history is American history. However, unlike other Americans, Black Americans have experienced unique structural and societal barriers to success. Black Americans suffered, among other things, chattel slavery; racial violence; Jim Crow laws; segregation; redlining practices; over-policing; discriminatory practices in education, housing, criminal justice, and employment; and inadequate and unequal access to quality healthcare. These policies were not accidental. They were intentional and had the effect of decimating Black communities. Among the Black Americans who overcame, a small number have been able to achieve remarkable success—against all odds.

Each February at the Andrea Pair Bryant Legacy Luncheon, the Austin Black Lawyers Association (ABLA) celebrates the legacy of Black attorneys who have made significant contributions to the Black community, the Austin legal community, and to ABLA. In years past, the Legacy Luncheon was held at the Chateau Bellevue in downtown Austin and attended by members of the judiciary, council members, and members and friends of ABLA.

This February, while we cannot gather, let us still reflect and honor some of the local trailblazers who broke down barriers in the Austin legal community.

• In 1883, 38 years after Texas was annexed to the United States, John N. Johnson became the first Black attorney in Austin as well as the first Black admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Texas. Johnson is remembered in history as a social justice warrior, filing what may have been the earliest civil rights lawsuits in Texas.

Judge Lora Livingston being presented with the Joseph C. Parker, Jr. Diversity Award by Judge Eric Shepperd in 2016.

• Because of the post-Reconstruction backlash and Jim Crow laws, for the next two or so generations Black Americans were largely excluded from the legal apprenticeship system, legal academic training programs, and legal and judgeship opportunities. According to the late Marquette University Law School Professor J. Gordon Hylton, there were only 20 Black lawyers in the entire state of Texas in 1930. 1

• In 1969, Judge Harriet Murphy (ret.) graduated from the University of Texas School of Law—still the only Black student in her class despite the Supreme Court’s decision in Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629 (1950), overturning the separate but equal doctrine in public education by requiring graduate and professional schools to admit Black students. Murphy went on to become the first Black female lawyer appointed to a regular judgeship in Texas (1973) and served on the City of Austin Municipal Court for 20 years.

Rev. and Mrs. Joseph C. Parker, Jr. and Judge (ret.) and Mrs. Wilford Flowers.

• Recipient of the 2011 Austin Bar Association’s Distinguished Lawyer Award, Judge Wilford Flowers (ret.)—Port Arthur born and UT Law educated (’76)—broke many barriers in his legal career in Austin. Flowers was the first Black person to be appointed as an assistant district attorney, the first Black person to serve as a Travis County Court at Law judge, and the first Black person to serve as District Court judge.

• In 1988, Judge Brenda Kennedy became the first Black woman to be elected in a contested countywide race as County Court at Law Judge. In 2002, Kennedy was elected to her current position as judge of the 403rd District Court and now serves as the Presiding Judge for the Criminal Courts. Prior to Kennedy, Judge Joel Bennett was the first judge to run the Travis County Drug Court and sat on its bench for 19 years.

• Rev. Joseph C. Parker, Jr., son of a civil rights advocate who had a personal relationship with Martin Luther King, Jr., was the first Black person elected as president of the Austin Bar Association (known then as the Travis County Bar Association) and served from 1996 to 1997. The Austin Bar’s Joseph C. Parker, Jr. Diversity Award is named in his honor. Rev. Parker received the Distinguished Lawyer Award from the Austin Bar in 2018.

• In 1998, Judge Lora J. Livingston was elected to serve as District Court judge, becoming the first Black woman to preside over a Travis County District Court. Livingston was also the first Black Associate Judge before being elected as District Judge. A former Reggie Fellow, Livingston has received numerous awards for her leadership and community service, including the American Bar Association’s 2020 Spirit of Excellence Award. In 2016, she was the first recipient of the Joseph C. Parker, Jr. Diversity Award from the Austin Bar.

(from left) Judge Harriet Murphy (ret.), Gary Cobb, Judge Aurora Martinez Jones, and Craig Moore.

• On Jan. 1, 2021, in a historic event, Judge Livingston swore in Judge Aurora Martinez Jones as the first Afro-Latina elected to the Texas 126th District Court, with remarks provided by Judge Eric Shepperd, the first Black male Civil County Court at Law judge and Presiding Civil County Court at Law judge in Travis County. Martinez Jones is the most recent recipient of the Austin Bar’s Joseph C. Parker, Jr. Diversity Award. Judge Shepperd established the award during his term as Austin Bar president from 2015-16.

• In 2000, Judge Samuel Biscoe became the first Black Travis County Commissioners Court Judge—serving in the role for more than 15 years. Biscoe returned to the position in May of 2020 to serve as interim County Judge, leading the Austin area through some of the most challenging days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Judge Wilford Flowers (ret.) with Austin Bar Executive Director DeLaine Ward.

• Velva Price, Travis County District Clerk, was the first Black female president of the Austin Bar Association and the first Black person to serve as District Clerk.

To all of our local trailblazers, named and unnamed, we thank you and honor you, in February and beyond. AL

Footnote

1. J. Gordon Hylton, Black Lawyers in the 1930s, https://law.marquette. edu/facultyblog/2012/05/blacklawyers-in-the-1930s/ (last visited Jan. 13, 2021).

Ayeola Williams is staff attorney at Capital Metro, immediate past-president of the Austin Black Lawyers Association, co-chair of the Austin Bar/AYLA 2021 Leadership Academy, and a member of the leadership team for the Austin Bar’s Equity Committee.