15 minute read
San Antonio Black Lawyers Association: Rooted in Struggle, Support, and Success
BAR BUSINESS
By Doris White
The history of San Antonio Black Lawyers Association (SABLA) is rooted in the experiences of the African American men and women who served our legal profession in Texas courts that were far from diverse. Indeed, the earliest Black 1 attorneys here faced segregated courtrooms, separate public accommodations, and a closed professional cohort, as they sought to become productive practitioners in this former Confederate state. Much praise is due our evolved legal system, where Black citizens now inhabit numerous spaces in today’s courthouses—from judicial chambers and prosecution and defense tables to clerks’ offices, and every place inside. Yet, to accurately assess the impact of SABLA on our profession and our community, it may be important to briefly consider those Black pioneering lawyers who courageously fought to remove barriers from local courthouses so that all might gain entry.
Oliver W. Johnson, Sr.
Oliver W. Johnson, Sr., born in San Antonio during the latter years of the 19th century, was an early Black lawyer in the city. In 1920, he was licensed to practice law in Texas and did so for more than half a century. Reportedly a general practitioner, he confined his work to the local area. According to one source, he maintained an office on the West Side, adjacent to the Missouri Pacific Railroad Station in an established Black neighborhood. The archives of the San Antonio Register (the newspaper published by Black journalists and catering to the African American community) reveal that Attorney Johnson was involved in two cases that garnered much publicity, both involving litigation between Black Baptist church leadership and disgruntled congregants. In 1947-48, Johnson won a temporary injunction on behalf of a churchgoer who also filed a defamation action against his pastor, seeking $10,000. Although the 57th District Court (Judge C.K. Quin) granted the injunction, Judge Delos Finch of the 73rd District Court dismissed the action. 2 In the summer of 1955, Johnson represented a similarly unhappy Baptist plaintiff who sought to prevent a minister from entering church premises, but Judge Quin dissolved the temporary injunction and dismissed the case. (In a bit of classic irony, the Register ran the article about the 1955 case on the same page as another piece announcing the defendant’s appearance as guest speaker at a school graduation!) 3
Perhaps Attorney Johnson’s signature contribution to our professional community occurred on Saturday, September 8, 1956, when he was admitted to membership in the San Antonio Bar Association (SABA). In writing about the first Black lawyer to gain such admission, the Register noted, “Negro lawyers have practiced here for more than half a century, but none, prior to Johnson, ever applied for membership.” Johnson claimed his interest in the formerly all-white SABA grew out of a television appearance as a grand juror, where others asked him why he did not belong to the organization. He later earned recommendations of SABA members Al M. Heck and Herman A. Knopp, joining the group during the tenure of SABA President Michael J. Kaine. 4
The 88th Annual Meeting of the State Bar of Texas honored Mr. Johnson with a certificate saluting more than fifty years of service to the local community and to our profession. He was also active with the Masons, Tom Lodge #100 for many decades. Ill health led to the veteran attorney’s retirement in the 1970s. After a lengthy illness, Oliver W. Johnson, Sr. died on Christmas Eve 1979. 5
Harry Middleton Bellinger
Harry Bellinger’s funeral program
Born in 1919 to a well-known local family, Harry Middleton Bellinger attended Wheatley High School and went on to graduate from Wiley College, a historically Black college in Marshall, Texas (Class of 1938). The ambitious young man relocated to Pennsylvania, where he earned an MBA degree (Wharton School of Business 1941) and a CPA license. In 1942, he entered the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, graduating in 1945, and then he returned to Texas. The State of Texas licensed him to practice law in 1945.
Attorney Bellinger established his legal practice in the Alamo City during the 1940s, gaining a reputation for civil rights activism and using the legal system to seek redress for Jim Crow policies. As legal counsel for the local NAACP chapter, Bellinger served as lead counsel in the case that attacked Plessy v. Ferguson’s “separate but equal” doctrine in the context of state-funded institutions of higher education in Texas. See Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629 (1950). In 1951, he filed for injunctive relief to integrate San Antonio Independent School District and San Antonio Community College. He also teamed with Maury Maverick, future jurist Carlos Cadena, and others in 1953 to challenge segregated boxing matches as a denial of Fourteenth Amendment rights and a violation of the Federal Civil Rights Act. 6
A fearless advocate for equal rights, Harry Middleton Bellinger was a prominent figure in African American legal circles. He was also active in Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Attorney Bellinger maintained his practice until his death on July 17, 1991. 7
Hattie Ruth Elam Briscoe
Hattie Ruth Elam Briscoe
Hattie Ruth Elam Briscoe was born in 1916 in Shreveport, Louisiana, and grew up in Marshall, Texas. She attended Wiley College there, earning a Bachelor’s degree in education (1937). Marriage brought the young teacher to San Antonio in 1941, where her barber husband owned Briscoe Beauty Salon on Pine Street. In 1945, the enterprising young woman was licensed in cosmetology and was hired to teach that subject at Phyllis Wheatley High School in San Antonio. She also completed a Master’s degree at Prairie View A&M College in 1951.
As fate would have it, a series of unfortunate job disappointments in the school system led to her employment as a civil servant at Kelly Air Force Base and then to her matriculation at St. Mary’s University School of Law in 1951 for evening courses. Her experience during law school reflected the inequities and biases of life faced by countless African Americans in the 1950s South: her presence was minimized, and her academic success devalued. In January 1956, Briscoe, then 40, was the only Black law student and one of two women to be conferred a Juris Doctorate. Although she was among the top of her class, her achievement was never recognized during the graduation program. Indeed, the law school waited until 1993 to acknowledge her status as first Black graduate. She was admitted to the Texas Bar in April 1956.
The job market for local Black attorneys was rather bleak during segregation. Thus, Briscoe took the familiar route of opening a solo practice at 1416 East Commerce Street, where she handled criminal cases before switching to Probate and Family Law litigation. In one murder case, in 1959, she received national attention in Jet Magazine when she was hired as a special prosecutor by the widow of an unarmed Black veteran who was killed by a police officer. But no amount of publicity could mitigate the distracting and disturbing “micro-aggressions” Briscoe encountered as a Black woman attorney: a judge deliberately delaying Briscoe’s case until the end of the day’s court docket, despite her early arrival; male attorneys refusing to return a woman lawyer’s telephone calls; using the white women’s bathroom in Richmond, Texas, because the courthouse did not have one for Black women.
In 1963, Attorney Briscoe was admitted to practice before the Veterans Administration. In 1964, she was invited to join the National Association of Defense Lawyers in Criminal Cases and licensed to practice in the United States District Court, Western District of Texas. A member of SABLA, she enjoyed affiliation with Texas Criminal Bar Association, American Bar Association, National Association of Defense Lawyers Criminal Cases, National Association of Black Women Attorneys, San Antonio Women’s Association, and SABA. She was also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
Hattie Elam Briscoe, Esquire, died here on October 17, 2002. For more than two decades, she was the sole Black woman attorney in Bexar County. Attorney Briscoe willingly blazed the trail alone, journeying the distance on behalf of the countless Black women lawyers whom she knew would come after. 8
Clarence Williams
Clarence Williams’ funeral program
A native of Kenedy, Texas (Karnes County), Attorney Clarence Williams, born in 1927, came to San Antonio as a child. In 1949, he earned a Bachelor’s degree at Prairie View A&M College before heading north to complete a two-year stint as Sergeant First Class with the military police force at Camp McCoy in Wisconsin. Later, Williams returned to Texas and enrolled in Texas Southern University Law School (now Thurgood Marshall School of Law) and married before graduating among the Class of 1956. The couple joined his parents later that year on the automobile trip to Austin to witness his State Bar swearing-in ceremony.
Williams sought to build his own practice here, stoutly meeting challenges faced by most African American professionals. To finance his law practice, the newly licensed lawyer waited tables and then signed on for the evening shift at the Post Office. By 1958, he had saved sufficient funds, yet he faced another hurdle—where to establish his practice? The determined Williams met with countless rejections from prospective landlords until he stopped to chat with a group of Black custodians on a downtown sidewalk. They told him of potential office space in the building where they worked, and Williams acted on their tip, becoming the first Black lawyer with a downtown office (the Oppenheimer Bank Building on Commerce Street; when that building was closed, he relocated across the street to the Aztec Building). And he continued as a postal clerk, putting in a full day at the office before beginning the late shift.
The tenacity that made Williams a successful lawyer also imbued his civic activism. In 1966, he made a bid for SAISD’s Board of Trustees. Despite losing the election, Williams and other Black voters went on to challenge the voter districting scheme in place during 1966. Their federal complaint alleged that Bexar County Black voters were effectively disenfranchised. Subsequent redistricting led to the election of Black candidates to state office. In 1990, after retiring from the Post Office, Williams also vied for several judicial positions, becoming the second African American elected Bexar County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4. Ill health necessitated his retirement from the Justice Court in 1996.
Throughout his career, Attorney Williams always championed SABLA and was among those who organized the group. He worked tirelessly to enhance the professional visibility of Black attorneys. Young lawyers were frequently mentored through affiliation with his practice. Years ago, Williams invited then-NAACP litigator Thurgood Marshall to meet with local Black lawyers at a luncheon in his home. (His mother-in-law supervised the special occasion because his wife had to teach and missed meeting the famed NAACP litigator!)
Williams was a member of the State and Federal Bars of Texas, the bar of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the San Antonio Bar Association, the City Board of Adjustment, and the City Tax Board of Equalization. He gave back to his community through service to numerous organizations, including the Davis-Scott YMCA Board of Directors, Ella Austin Community Center, NAACP, and American Legion (Alamo Post #2). He also belonged to the American Postal Workers Union. Clarence Williams, Esquire, died in August 1996. 9
Clarence Roy McGowan
Born in 1921, Attorney Clarence Roy McGowan came of age in Bryan, Texas, during the Jim Crow era. He entered Prairie View A&M College, graduating in 1943 with teacher training. He also traveled to Iowa to earn two Master’s degrees in science by virtue of a Texas policy that paid the out-of-state tuition of Black students who were barred from white schools here and could not find similar courses at segregated Black schools. In 1945, he relocated to San Antonio to accept a position in SAISD. By 1958, McGowan had climbed the ladder from mathematics teacher to guidance counselor and then principal. The busy teacher also worked at St. Philip’s College as an adjunct mathematics professor.
McGowan started law school at St. Mary’s University in 1958, as the first Black male student to matriculate there. He took evening classes during the week, spending weekends studying with a classmate at a local white lawyer’s office. In 1963, he became the first Black man to graduate from that law school. The new lawyer was soon admitted to the Texas Bar and then to all other State, District
and Federal District Courts and the Supreme Court of Texas.
The diligent and well-respected attorney practiced law for the next forty-two years until his retirement in 2005. During his career, he honed his craft while handling criminal, oil and gas, real estate, and probate cases. McGowan also accepted civil rights cases from across the nation as a legal representative for the NAACP. Ever the intrepid activist, he also was a member of “Blockbusters,” a group of Blacks who purchased homes in white neighborhoods after the 1964 court decision prohibiting race-based restrictions in real estate transactions. When one white person sold a home to Blockbusters, a black family could move into the neighborhood. In October 1974, City Council appointed him to Municipal Court as Night Magistrate— the first African American on that bench. In 1975, McGowan launched an unsuccessful bid for City Council, a campaign endorsed by the Good Government League. He later was elected Bexar County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4.
Perhaps Attorney McGowan’s legacy has been best secured by his role in SABLA’s formation. During the ’60s and ’70s, our city was home to a growing number of Black lawyers who worked and lived in a sprawling urban area with no professional organization dedicated to meeting their specific needs—not even a Black American Law Students Association chapter. In 1978, while acutely aware of the dearth of African American representation in politics and community affairs, and with a proven track record for mobilizing people, McGowan engaged colleagues in preliminary discussions about, and planning for, the formation of a bar association addressing the unique needs and interests of Black lawyers. Elected Temporary Chair initially, he was eventually elected President of SABLA. Throughout his term of office, the zealous advocate promoted SABLA, networked successfully on its behalf, and encouraged members to apply for judicial and staff vacancies in the courthouse. Even in retirement, Attorney McGowan willingly shared his knowledge and expertise with SABLA to enhance the bar association’s efficacy.
McGowan held lifetime memberships in the NAACP, National Bar Association, and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. He also affiliated with SABA, Sigma Pi Phi, and Phi Beta Kappa and garnered numerous awards from various groups. Clarence Roy McGowan, Esquire, died here on August 17, 2018. 10
SABLA’s Legacy
Today, SABLA’s aims continue to reflect the values of its members and the broader community: eliminating injustices in the legal sphere and elsewhere; ensuring that the public has access to the best legal representation our city can offer; providing professional development opportunities. As an organization, we echo the beliefs of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.” SABLA hosts monthly CLE opportunities for attorneys, generally held on the third Wednesday of the month. The CLE speakers have varied backgrounds, ranging from criminal law to civil and administrative law. We proudly partner with St. Mary’s Law School in preparing students to practice law locally. Additionally, our bar association participates in the annual MLK March locally and stages outreach events throughout the year that cater to the communities we serve. Recently, SABLA offered a virtual Wills Clinic and a Mayoral Candidate Forum to the general public. In our spare time, we volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and San Antonio Food Bank. Law students, paralegals, and attorneys of all backgrounds are encouraged to become SABLA members. Contact us by email at sanantonioblacklawyers@gmail.com or on Facebook.
San Antonio Black Lawyers Association emerged forty-three years ago in response to a fundamental need of its members: professional support for attorneys with a unique history of exclusion from the halls of justice. The men and women who formed our group knew intimately the joys and burdens faced by African American lawyers. They labored to transform restricted courthouses into bastions of equality and to render our esteemed profession more reflective of every lawyer administered the oath. SABLA honors their herculean efforts by continuing to sustain the burgeoning community of African American attorneys. With hope and pride, we look forward to the many productive decades ahead.
Doris Helene White, Esquire—native San Antonian, Boston University School of Law (1982) alumnus, and SABLA Board Member—is a retired Assistant Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, who thrived on civil jury trials in state and federal courts. The sixth-generation Texan is delighted to be home again after a thirty-year hiatus and enjoys sharing the history of the Eastside community that nurtured her.
SABLA OFFICERS 2021-2022
PRESIDENT Tiffany Miller
PRESIDENT-ELECT Artessia “Tess” House
VICE PRESIDENT Courtney Hilliard
SECRETARY Gamuchirai Hativagone
TREASURER Danica McKinney
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Bridgett Clay
SABLA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jeff Akins Sade Bogart Edith Brown Denise Hairston Honorable Yolanda Huff Doris White
ENDNOTES
The terms “Black” and “African American” are used interchangeably herein as a nod to popular speech. However, this writer firmly believes that the former term is a more inclusive descriptor of an individual with DNA from the African continent without regard to nationality .2
San Antonio Register (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 18, No.48, Ed. 1 Friday, December 17, 1948.
San Antonio Register (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 25, No.27, Ed. 1 Friday, August 12, 1955.
San Antonio Register (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 26, No.31, Ed. 1 Friday, September 14, 1956.
San Antonio Register (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 48, No.38, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 27, 1979.
The Bout, Cary Clack, February 19, 2020.
Funeral Program for Harry Middleton Bellinger, July20, 1991.
Texas Historical Association, Handbook of Texas; University of Texas-San Antonio Libraries, Special Collections.
Funeral Program, Judge Clarence Williams (1996); Interviews, Jerelyne Castleberry Williams (Jan.-Feb. 2021).
Funeral Program, Clarence Roy McGowan (2018); Tribute Archives, Meadowlawn Memorial Park (undated).
