Charles H. Houston
| Charles Hamilton Houston | |
|---|---|
| Born |
September 3, 1895 Washington, D.C. |
| Died | April 22, 1950 (aged 54) Washington, D.C. |
| Nationality | United States |
| Alma mater |
Amherst College Harvard Law School |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Charles Hamilton Houston (September 3, 1895 – April 22, 1950) was a prominent African-American lawyer, Dean of Howard University Law School, and NAACP first special counsel, or Litigation Director. A graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Law School, Houston played a significant role in dismantling Jim Crow laws, especially attacking segregation in schools and racial housing convenants. He earned the title "The Man Who Killed Jim Crow".
Houston is also well known for having trained and mentored a generation of black attorneys, including Thurgood Marshall, future director of the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund and appointed as Supreme Court Justice. He recruited young lawyers to work on the NAACP's litigation campaigns, building connections between Howard's and Harvard's university law schools.
Houston was born in Washington, D.C., to a middle-class family who lived in the Striver section. His father William Le Pré Houston, the son of a former slave, had become an attorney and practiced in the capital for more than four decades. Charles' mother, Mary (née Hamilton) Houston, worked as a seamstress. Houston attended segregated local schools, graduating from the academic (college preparatory) Dunbar High School. He studied at Amherst College beginning in 1911, was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, and graduated as valedictorian in 1915, the only black student in his class. He returned to D.C. and taught English at Howard University, an historically black college.
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