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47 Stan. L. Rev. 161 (1994-1995)
Not Only the Judges' Robes Were Black: African-American Lawyers as Social Engineers

handle is hein.journals/stflr47 and id is 187 raw text is: REVIEW ESSAY Not Only the Judges' Robes Were Black: African-American Lawyers as Social Engineers Paul Finkelman* EMANCIPATION: THE MAKING OF THE BLACK LAWYER, 1844-1944. By J. Clay Smith, Jr.t Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 1993. 611 pp. $56.95. In this review essay, Professor Finkelman praises J. Clay Smith's Emanci- pation for collecting and organizing a vast amount of information on African- American lawyers in the century after 1844. Smith's book offers insights on the most famous black lawyers of this period and presents new biographical information on many heretofore unknown black lawyers. According to Profes- sor Finkelman, virtually all of these lawyers had remarkable determination to continue practicing law in the face of sharp opposition when blacks had few or no rights under the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Constitution. He presents additional historical context for Smith's research and shows how black attorneys often had to fight prejudice within the profession even as they represented black clients before an often biased and recalcitrant judiciary. Professor Finkelman criticizes what he says is the often illogical and confusing organization of the work. Still, he calls Smith's book an important resource for students of the transformation of civil rights law. When he was in the eighth grade, Malcolm Little thought he might like to be a lawyer. His white teacher had other ideas. Malcolm, one of life's first needs is for us to be realistic. Don't misunder- stand me, now. We all here like you, you know that. But you've got to be realistic about being a nigger. A lawyer-that's no realistic goal for a nigger. * Department of History, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. B.A., 1971, Syra- cuse University; MA., 1972, Ph.D., 1976, University of Chicago; Fellow in Law and History, 1982-83, Harvard Law School. I thank Richard Aynes, Hayward Farrar, John Hope Franklin, Tom Green, Jeremy Harrison, James and Lois Horton, Beryl Jones, Allison Lindsey, Jenni Parrish, Judith Schafer, and Peter Wallenstein for their conversations and comments about this essay. I also thank the William S. Richard- son School of Law at the University of Hawaii for providing office space and research facilities for me while I worked on this article. t Professor of Law and former Dean, Howard University School of Law.

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