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Honoring His Honor: America’s First Black State Supreme Court Justice

Charleston resident Jonathan Jasper Wright, an attorney originally from Pennsylvania, was sworn into his seat on the South Carolina Supreme Court in 1870 – as the country’s first African American Supreme Court Justice. His tenure coincided with the rise and fall of the Reconstruction in the South, a time of temporarily granted legal and political opportunities for Black Americans. Join the Charleston Library Society in welcoming Judge Richard Gergel and Professor William Burke, both authors of Justice Wright’s story in the context of African-American struggles in the legal community during the Reconstruction, for an in-depth reflection on the inspiring life of Justice Wright, his political successes, failures and his relevance to the new freedoms in the Age of Reconstruction.

November 19, 2024

Charleston Library Society
164 King Street
Charleston, SC 29401

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