From Slave to State Legislator: John W. E. Thomas, Illinois' First African American Lawmaker

3. “Justly Entitled to Representation” : The Long Road Back to the Legislature

51 [ 3 ] “Justly Entitled to Representation”: The Long Road Back to the Legislature The years 1878–1880 would be a time of both political gain and loss for Chicago’s African American community. While no African American would be elected to the state legislature or to a city or county office, an African American would be elected as South Town clerk. John Howard and Isaac Rivers emerged as political activists, although they were not of the caliber of John Jones or John W. E. Thomas. Jones, Chicago’s first African American political leader, died in 1879.1 More and more African Americans received government jobs, including W. C. Phillips, who began working as a clerk for the Cook County Recorder of Deeds office; Rivers, who became a Post Office carrier; and J. Q. Grant, who became a constable for the South Town.2 Ferdinand Barnett began publishing the Conservator, the first African American newspaper in Chicago in 1878, and although few copies of it exist today, it once gave voice to the city’s African American community. Thomas focused less on politics and more on his personal and business affairs. Despite having been a political leader of the African American community, his few efforts at politics in Chicago during this period ended in failure. A Law Career and a Second Marriage Following the 1878 election, Thomas began the serious study of law. He studied under the guidance of Kirk Hawes, of the law firm Hawes and Lawrence, located at the southwest corner of Dearborn and Monroe Streets in downtown Chicago. Hawes was a prominent Republican attorney in the city. In 1880, he was elected to the first of two terms as a superior court judge. Thomas received his law license on February 2, 1880, becoming only the sixth African American in Chicago to become an attorney.3 Lloyd G. Wheeler was the first African American attorney in Illinois when he obtained his license on April 20, 1869. By the end of the century, “JuSTLy ENTITLED TO rEprESENTATION” 52 more than thirty African Americans from Chicago had become lawyers. As with their white counterparts, admission to the bar helped many African Americans pursue political careers. Of the first twelve African Americans in Chicago to become lawyers, three of them (Thomas, Edward H. Morris , and John G. Jones) became state representatives, and four others (Lloyd G. Wheeler, Ferdinand Barnett, S. Laing Williams, and Franklin Denison) took leading roles in community affairs. However, becoming an attorney did not mean immediate acceptance into the legal community for African Americans. The Chicago Bar Association formed in 1874, but did not admit African Americans until the 1940s. Judge Bradwell attempted to have African American attorneys admitted to the association, but he never succeeded. In 1914, fifteen years after Thomas’s death, two dozen African American lawyers formed the Cook County Bar Association.4 Thomas worked mainly as a police court lawyer, and his practice would prove lucrative. The Chicago Legal News later wrote of him that, “As a lawyer, Mr. Thomas’s business was principally at the Harrison Street Police Station, in defending criminals, signing their bonds and investing the proceeds in real estate.” The Legal News seemed to apologize for the type of law Thomas practiced, stating, “Not withstanding the character of this business and the length of time Mr. Thomas was engaged in it, he was regarded by all who knew him as a man of honor and integrity.” Both the Chicago Chronicle and the Inter-Ocean agreed that Thomas spent most of his time as an attorney at the Harrison Street Police Station. The Chronicle added, “His chief interest was in criminal work and at the Harrison Street police court, where he was almost a daily visitor for ten years, he was in demand by his clients, white and black.”5 If the Legal News seemed to apologize for the type of work Thomas performed , it was because police courts were the bottom rung of the judicial ladder. Police courts were administered by police magistrates, who were also justices of the peace. Justices of the peace were elected positions everywhere else in the state, but in the City of Chicago where they were appointed by the governor by and with the consent of the state senate and following the recommendation of the judges of the superior, circuit, and county courts.6 From the justices of the peace, the mayor of Chicago selected police magistrates, who were in charge of the courts at the...