Opinion
One of Texas’ first Black lawyers asked to ‘give us a white man’s chance.’ Few remember John Johnson
The first Black lawyer permitted to argue before the Texas Supreme Court was a century ahead of his time.
The Texas Supreme Court rolls showing John Johnson on the second line from the top. He was the first Black lawyer allowed to appear before the state s highest court.(Courtesy of John Browning)
Long before there was a Martin Luther King Jr. dreaming of equality and a Thurgood Marshall filing landmark civil rights lawsuits in the 20th century, there was John N. Johnson of Brazos County doing the same, only he did it in the previous century.