George William Crockett Jr.
| George Crockett Jr. | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan's 13th district |
|
|
In office November 4, 1980 – January 3, 1991 |
|
| Preceded by | Charles Diggs |
| Succeeded by | Barbara-Rose Collins |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 10, 1909 Jacksonville, Florida |
| Died | September 7, 1997 (aged 88) Washington, D.C. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) |
Ethelene Jones Crockett Harriette Chambliss |
| Alma mater |
Morehouse College University of Michigan Law School |
George William Crockett Jr. (August 10, 1909 – September 7, 1997) was an African-American attorney, jurist, and congressman from the U.S. state of Michigan. He also served as a national vice-president of the National Lawyers Guild and co-founded what is believed to be the first racially integrated law firm in the United States.
George Crockett was born in Jacksonville, Florida to George William Crockett, Sr. (1883–1975) and Minnie Amelia Jenkins (1884–1983), who had two other children: Alzeda Crockett and John Frazier Crockett. George Sr. pastored the Harmony Baptist Church in Jacksonville for more than 30 years and mastered the carpentry trade. George Sr. became a railroad carpenter for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. His son, George Jr., would later build room additions and continue practicing carpentry for pleasure in adulthood. Minnie, a gentle woman, Sunday School teacher and poet, said in a November 23, 1969 Times-Union Journal (Jacksonville) article, "My philosophy is that children should be ahead of their parents, should climb a step higher and make a contribution to the family and to society." George Jr. took his mother's philosophy to heart.
Crockett graduated from Stanton High School in Jacksonville. In 1931, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia, a prestigious, historically black university that awarded its first degrees in 1897. He was later given an Honorary LL.D. from Morehouse in 1972, was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and served as a Trustee of the College for many years. During his Morehouse tenure, Crockett pledged Kappa Alpha Psi.
Crockett received a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1934 and returned to Jacksonville to practice law that year as one of very few African American attorneys in the state of Florida.
Crockett participated in the founding convention of the nation's first racially integrated bar association, the National Lawyers Guild in 1937, and later served that organization as its national vice-president.
...
Wikipedia