Joseph C. Howard
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Honorable Joseph C. Howard Sr. |
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| Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland | |
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In office October 5, 1979 – November 15, 1991 |
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| Nominated by | Jimmy Carter |
| Preceded by | Seat established on October 20, 1978 by 92 Stat. 1629 |
| Succeeded by | Peter Jo Messitte |
| Associate Judge of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City | |
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In office 1968–1979 |
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| Nominated by | popular election |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 9, 1922 Des Moines, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | September 16, 2000 (aged 77) Pikesville, Maryland, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Gwendolyn Mae (London) Howard |
| Children | Joseph C. Howard Jr. |
| Alma mater | University of Iowa, Morgan State College, Drake University Law School |
| Occupation | Judge, attorney |
| Profession | legal |
Joseph Clemens Howard Sr. (December 9, 1922 – September 16, 2000) was the first African American to win an election as judge for the Baltimore City Supreme Bench and was later appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, becoming the first African American to serve on that bench as well.
Howard was born to Charles Preston Howard and Maude L. (Lewis) Howard in Des Moines, Iowa. His parents were African-American. His father, a friend of civil rights leader Dr. Ralph Bunche, was a native of South Carolina, his mother has been described as Native American (Sioux). but was actually a daughter of Thomas D. Lewis (1846–1909) and Mary Adeline Tann (1855–1939) of Fayette, Iowa, both members of a farming colony of free people of color that settled in Northeast Iowa in 1853. Joseph's grandfather Lewis had the distinction of being a private in the 38th Regiment USCT, one of four USCT units that were the first US troops to march into Richmond, Virginia when it fell in April, 1865. Joseph's great-uncle Theodore Wright Lewis (1853–1922), an AME pastor who served churches in Iowa, Illinois and Kansas was one of the founding members of the NAACP in the Davenport, Iowa and Rock Island, Illinois area. His father was a lawyer and one of the original founders of the National Bar Association, an association of African-American attorneys.
Howard served in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946. During World War II, he commanded Filipino troops and ran a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. He was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain.
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