Robert Heberton Terrell
| Robert Heberton Terrell | |
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| Born | November 27, 1857 Orange, Virginia |
| Died | December 20, 1925 (aged 68) |
| Education | Groton Academy |
Robert Heberton Terrell was the first African American justice of the peace to serve in Washington, DC. He was born in Orange, Virginia on November 27, 1857, to parents Harris and Louisa Ann Terrell. Terrell was one of seven Magna Cum Laude scholars to graduate from Harvard University in 1884. He later went on to attend Howard University School of Law.
On October 18, 1891, Terrell married Mary Church Terrell. The two met at the Preparatory School for Colored Youth, now known as the M Street High School, in Washington, D.C.
From 1884-1889, Terrell taught at the M Street High School. He was a participant in the March 5, 1897 meeting to celebrate the memory of Frederick Douglass, which founded the American Negro Academy led by Alexander Crummell. In 1889, he left the school when he was appointed the chief of division, Office of the Fourth Auditor of the U.S. Treasury Department. In 1896, Terrell began a partnership with John R. Lynch to create the law firm of Lynch and Terrell in Washington D.C. Their firm existed for just about two years and came to a close in the year 1898 when President William McKinley appointed Lynch as "a Major and Paymaster of volunteers to serve as such in the Spanish-American War." In 1899, Terrell was hired as principal of the M Street High School, a position he left in 1901.
In 1901, Terrell accepted an appointment to serve as a justice of the peace in Washington D.C., which made him the first African-American justice of the peace in Washington D.C. This marked a difficult time for Terrell and other African American leaders during this time because the same government that saw Terrell and other African Americans fit to lead in government did not believe in granting civil rights to all African Americans. In 1910, Terrell was appointed by William Howard Taft to the Municipal Court of the District of Columbia. Terrell was appointed and reappointed by Presidents Taft, Roosevelt, and Wilson.
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