Hugo Black

Hugo LaFayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1937 - 1971). He is noted for his advocacy of a "literal" reading of the United States Constitution, and for his advocacy of the position that the guarantees of liberties in the U.S. Bill of Rights were imposed on the states via their incorporation in the Fourteenth Amendment. His jurisprudence has been the focus of much discussion. Because of his insistence on a strict textual analysis of Constitutional issues, as opposed to the process-oriented jurisprudence of many of his colleagues, it is difficult to characterize Black as a "liberal" or a "conservative" as those terms are generally understood. Yet his theory of "incorporation" often translated into support for strengthening civil liberties. In the 1920's, Black (like Chief Justice Edward Douglass White) was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and in 1921 he defended Klansmen accused of the murder of priest James Coyle. However, he later publicly disavowed the Klan, and his record on the Supreme Court bench contained some indications of support for the Civil Rights Movement.

Early years

Hugo LaFayette Black was born on February 27, 1886 in a small wooden farmhouse in Harlan, Alabama, a rural town in Clay County, Alabama. Harlan was a poor, isolated community in the Appalachian foothills.

Related Topics:
February 27 - 1886 - Harlan, Alabama - Clay County - Alabama

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Because his brother Orlando had become a medical doctor, Hugo decided to follow in his footsteps and at age 17 he left school in Ashland (where he had been whipped and beaten by the principal) and enrolled in the 1902-1903 term at Birmingham Medical School. However, it was his brother Orlando who suggested that Hugo should enroll in the University of Alabama to study law.

Related Topics:
Ashland - 1902 - 1903 - University of Alabama

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After graduating in June 1906 he moved back to Ashland and established a legal practice above a grocery shop. Black joined a Baptist church and applied for membership in the Freemasons. His legal practice was not a success and a year and a half after his law office on the first floor had opened, the entire building burned to the ground. Black then moved back to Birmingham in 1907 to continue his law practice, where at age 21 he was also initiated as a member of a Masonic lodge.

Related Topics:
1906 - Baptist - Freemasons - 1907

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Following his involvement with a case involving the defense of an African-American who had been forced into a form of commercial slavery following incarceration, Hugo Black was befriended by a judge connected with the case. That same judge was later appointed as one of three Commissioners for the City of Birmingham; he asked Hugo Black to serve as the City Recorder (Police Court Judge.) Black's experience as a police court judge was his only judicial experience prior to his Supreme Court appointment.

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On October 21, 1912 Black left the bench when he resigned as Recorder and returned to his full time legal practice. On December 1, 1914 after his election to a four-year term, he became the Prosecuting Attorney for Jefferson County, just seven years after leaving what he termed "Hillbilly Clay County".

Related Topics:
October 21 - 1912 - December 1 - 1914 - Jefferson County

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On August 3, 1917 he resigned his elected office and joined the Officers Training School at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. On November 3 Captain Black was assigned for duty to the 81st Field Artillery Unit near Chattanooga, Tennessee, a short distance from Oglethorpe. He was a soldier until September 20, 1918 "and never fired a shot against the nation's enemy." He returned to private law practice in Birmingham.

Related Topics:
August 3 - 1917 - Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia - November 3 - Chattanooga - Tennessee - September 20 - 1918

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