February is Black History Month

On October 10, 1980, Oscar William Adams, Jr. became the first African-American Supreme Court Justice in Alabama. He was appointed to that position by Governor Fob James. When he was elected to a full term for that position in 1982, he became the first African-American elected to a statewide constitutional office in the state, and he was re-elected to that position in 1988. Justice Adams graduated from Talladega College, Talladega, Alabama, with a degree in philosophy, in 1944. Although segregation laws prevented him from attending law school in his native state, he graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1947. He was admitted to the Alabama State Bar in that same year and launched a distinguished legal career in private practice, becoming a leader in civil rights litigation. He was the first African-American lawyer admitted to the Birmingham Bar Association. He was a sole practitioner until 1967, when he established the state’s first integrated law firm, Adams and Burg. In 1969, he and James K. Baker established the state’s first African-American law firm, Adams and Baker, which later expanded to include U. W. Clemon. The law firm of Adams, Baker & Clemon became one of the nation’s leading law firms handling complex civil rights litigation. Justice Adams’ clients included Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the NAACP. The firm handled numerous school desegregation cases, employment, housing and public accommodations discrimination cases and voting rights cases. The firm eventually dissolved when each of the partners was called into government service. James K. Baker became the first African American to serve as city attorney for the City of Birmingham; U.W. Clemon became the first African-American judge of the United States District Court of Northern Alabama; and Oscar W. Adams, Jr. became the first African-American Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama. Justice Adams retired in 1993 but succumbed to cancer in 1997.

Justice Cook was born in Birmingham Alabama. After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from Tennessee State University in Nashville in 1964, he received his Juris Doctor from Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1967. He was admitted to the Alabama State Bar in 1968 and to the California State Bar in 1973. While living in California, he worked as a legal services attorney in San Francisco, as an administrative analyst for the city manager of Berkeley, and was a professor at San Jose State University and at Cabrillo College. Upon his return to Alabama, he served as both a professor of law and Dean of Miles Law School. Judge Cook was the first African American judge to serve as judge in the trial courts in Jefferson County, having served on both the district and circuit courts. In 1977, he was elected District Court Judge of Jefferson County and served in the Family Court until 1981, when he was appointed to the circuit court bench by Governor Fob James. He was re-elected to the circuit court bench in 1982 and in 1988. In 1993, he was appointed by Governor Jim Folsom to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court created by the retirement of Justice Oscar W. Adams, Jr., making Justice Cook the second African American to serve on the Supreme Court of Alabama. He is a past president of the Alabama Lawyers Association and an elected member of the American Law Institute. He retired from the Supreme Court in 2000 and entered private practice with the firm of Hare, Wynn, Newell & Newton, LLP, in Birmingham. He has received numerous awards for his service to civic and religious organizations throughout the state.

John Henry England, Jr., was born in Uniontown, Alabama, and grew up in Birmingham. After receiving a Bachelor or Science degree in Chemistry in 1969 from Tuskegee Institute, he served two years as a military policeman in the United States Army. He graduated from the University of Alabama Law School in 1974 and practiced law in Tuscaloosa County for 19 years. He is active in numerous civic and professional organizations, having served on the Democratic Executive Committee and as Past President of the Alabama New South Coalition. He served two terms on the Tuscaloosa City Council, and he served on the Board of Trustees for the University of Alabama. In June 1993, he was appointed by Governor Jim Folsom to serve as Circuit Judge for the Sixth Judicial Circuit; and he was elected to a full term of office in November 1994. He served as Presiding Circuit Judge from 1998-1999. On August 20, 1999, Governor Don Siegleman appointed him to the Supreme Court of Alabama to fill a vacancy, making Justice England the third African American to serve on the Supreme Court of Alabama. His appointment marked another historic milestone in that the Supreme Courts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and the District of Columbia were the only courts in the country at the time with two sitting African American supreme court justices. He currently serves as a Circuit Court Judge for the Sixth Judicial Circuit.