The mid-19th century American legal system was overwhelmingly closed off to African Americans due to social prejudice and legal restrictions on citizenship. For a Black individual to pursue law before the Civil War meant navigating a hostile system that actively denied professional recognition. The achievement of the first African American lawyer was a landmark moment, challenging the racial hierarchy of the time. Successful entry into the bar required immense personal determination and the exploitation of narrow legal loopholes.
Identifying the Legal Pioneer
The trailblazer who first broke the color barrier in the American legal profession was Macon Bolling Allen. Born around 1816 in Indiana as Allen Macon Bolling, he grew up a free man in a state that presented significant barriers to Black residents. He taught himself to read and write, eventually becoming a schoolteacher before setting his sights on a legal career in New England in the early 1840s.
Allen moved to Portland, Maine, where he changed his name and began his legal studies. He became licensed to practice law in the state of Maine on July 3, 1844, a date which marks his distinction as the first African American licensed attorney in the United States. After facing difficulty establishing a practice in Maine, he relocated to Massachusetts, where he was admitted to the bar of Suffolk County in May 1845. While his Maine admission was the initial licensing, his move to Boston and subsequent Massachusetts admission allowed him to become the first African American to actively practice law in the country.
The Journey to Bar Admission
Allen’s legal training followed the traditional method of “reading law” as an apprentice under a mentor. He worked in Portland, Maine, under General Samuel Fessenden, a prominent local attorney and abolitionist. When Fessenden first presented Allen for admission to the bar in Maine, the Portland District Court rejected the motion. The court argued that Allen did not meet the state’s citizenship requirement, reflecting the legal ambiguity and racial bias of the era that denied Black individuals full rights.
Undaunted by the rejection, Allen pursued an alternate path to admission: taking the bar examination. In Maine, this method did not explicitly require state citizenship, providing a mechanism to bypass the court’s initial objection. He passed the examination on July 3, 1844, to grant him a license to practice law. This achievement represented a triumph of professional qualification over institutional prejudice.
Despite his official licensing, Allen struggled to find clients in Maine because white citizens were unwilling to hire a Black attorney. He moved to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1845 and passed the bar exam there, which allowed him to begin practicing law. His determination was evident: he was so poor at the time that he walked fifty miles to reach the testing site for the Massachusetts bar exam.
Professional Life and Historical Significance
Following his admission to the Massachusetts bar, Allen quickly established himself as a practicing attorney and achieved another milestone by becoming the first African American lawyer to argue a case before a jury. He soon partnered with Robert Morris, Jr., who was admitted to the bar two years later, to form one of the first known African American law offices in the United States. Allen realized that the racial prejudice in Boston still made it difficult to sustain a living solely through private practice, so he sought a judicial position to supplement his income.
Allen passed a qualifying examination and, in 1848, was appointed Justice of the Peace for Middlesex County, Massachusetts, making him the first African American to hold a judicial position in the nation. This appointment was remarkable, considering the prevailing legal view that Black people were not citizens of the United States. After the Civil War, Allen moved to Charleston, South Carolina, joining the wave of Black professionals moving South during the Reconstruction era.
In Charleston, Allen co-founded the firm Whipper, Elliott, and Allen, recognized as the first known African American law firm in the country. He continued his judicial career, serving on the Inferior Court of Charleston and later being elected as a judge in the probate court in 1874. Allen’s achievements laid a foundation for generations of Black legal professionals, demonstrating that African Americans could successfully master and administer the nation’s laws.