Robert Morris (lawyer)
| Robert Morris | |
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| Born | June 8, 1823 |
| Died | December 12, 1882 (aged 59) |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Known for | Abolitionist |
Robert Morris (June 8, 1823 – December 12, 1882) was one of the first African-American attorneys in the United States, and was called "the first really successful colored lawyer in America."
Admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1847, Morris may have been the first black male lawyer to file a lawsuit in the U.S. He was also the first black lawyer to win a lawsuit.
According to some sources, Morris and Macon Bolling Allen opened America's first black law office in Boston, but the authors of Sarah's Long Walk say there is "no direct knowledge that [Allen and Morris] ever met", nor is such a partnership mentioned in Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, 1844-1944.
Morris was active in black and abolitionist causes, notably filing and trying the first U.S. civil rights challenge to segregated public schools in the 1848 case of Roberts v. Boston. Morris and Charles Sumner pressed the case, which is believed to be the first legal challenge to the "separate but equal" practice of segregation in America. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled against Morris in 1850. The U.S. Supreme Court later cited the case in support of its Plessy v. Ferguson ruling in 1896, which codified the "separate but equal" standard. "Separate but equal" was ultimately overturned by the high court in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
Anthony Burns was a fugitive slave who was captured and tried under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 in Boston. Richard Henry Dana, Jr. and Morris acted as Burns' attorneys, but were unsuccessful. With the ruling made against Burns, the government effectively held Boston under martial law for the afternoon. The case generated national publicity, large demonstrations, protests and an attack on US Marshals at the courthouse. Federal troops were used to ensure Burns was transported to a ship for return to Virginia after the trial. He was eventually ransomed from slavery, with his freedom purchased by Boston sympathizers. Afterward he was educated at Oberlin College and became a Baptist preacher, moving to Upper Canada for a position.
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