Blazing the Trail: Remembering Maryland's first Black lawyers

By Tom Hall,

Teria Rogers, Rob Sivak, Malarie Pinkard-Pierre

Published February 9, 2023 at 12:00 PM EST

Everett J. Waring became the first Black man admitted to the bar of the Supreme Bench bar in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 10, 1885. The University of Baltimore School of Law is presenting a symposium on February 16, from 6-9pm, in which a panel of jurists and legal scholars will spotlight Maryland's early Black lawyers and the challenges they faced in gaining admission to the bar, as well as obstacles still in existence for Black lawyers seeking bar admission and judgeships. (image courtesy Library of Congress) — Everett J. Waring became the first Black man admitted to the bar of the Supreme Bench in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 10, 1885. The University of Baltimore School of Law is presenting a symposium on February 16, from 6-9pm, in which a panel of jurists and legal scholars will spotlight Maryland's first Black lawyers and the challenges they faced in gaining admission to the bar, as well as obstacles that still remain for Black lawyers seeking bar admission and judgeships. (image courtesy Library of Congress)

Continuing our observance of Black History Month, we begin today with a conversation about an important aspect of Black history here in Maryland concerning breaking the color barrier in the legal profession.

Next Thursday night (February 16), the University of Baltimore School of Law will host a symposium with two attorneys and legal historians, who will talk about the first Black lawyers in Maryland. The decades-long efforts by Black lawyers to be admitted to the Maryland Bar pre-dated the NAACP, and finally succeeded long after other Southern states had already seen their color barriers broken.

The two lawyers who will be presenting the program at UB next week join us today here on Midday.

John Browning (left) is a former Judge on the Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals. He’s a trial lawyer with the Spencer-Fane firm in Plano, Texas; Domonique Flowers is Staff Attorney at the Maryland Pro Bono Resource Center in Baltimore. (courtesy photos)

John Browning is a former Judge on the Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals. He’s a trial lawyer with the Spencer-Fane firm in Plano, TX. He joins us on Zoom…

Domonique Flowers is Staff Attorney at the Maryland Pro Bono Resource Center here in Baltimore. He also joins us on Zoom.

For more information on UB Law's "Blazing the Trail" symposium, click here.

Our conversation today was previously recorded, so we won't be taking any calls or comments.