August 12, 1937
Hugo Black was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. A native of Harlan in Clay County, Black built a lucrative law firm in Birmingham and became a U.S. senator in 1926. He served as an associate justice for 34 years and often supported liberal policies and civil liberties for what he called the “weak, helpless and outnumbered.” He is remembered as a champion of the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment and is regarded as one of the most influential justices of the 20th century. Black was inducted into the Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame in 1993.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
Hugo Lafayette Black, July 10, 1925. (George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)
New Supreme Court appointee and wife. Washington, D.C., Aug. 12., 1937. Sen. and Mrs. Hugo L. Black photographed at the Capitol today shortly after Black’s nomination as a member of the Supreme Court was received in the Senate chamber. (Photograph by Harris and Ewing, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)
Hugo La Fayette Black, c.1937. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)
During his 34-year tenure on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Hugo L. Black (seated in the front row, second from left) issued opinions on some of the most controversial issues of the 20th century, including freedom of speech, school desegregation and separation of church and state. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Courtesy of United States Supreme Court)
Clay County native and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black was responsible for some of the most progressive civil and legal reforms in the 20th century. He is remembered as a tireless advocate for minority rights and as a fierce defender of the First Amendment. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Alabama Department of Archives and History)
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
