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WILLIAM H. HASTDE William Henry Hastie was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on 17 November 1904, the only child of a college-educated father and a schoolteacher mother. He attende d th e celebrate d Dunba r Hig h Schoo l i n Washington , D.C. , finishing a s class valedictorian and winning a scholarship to Amherst. On e of fou r blacks in his class, he majored i n mathematics and German, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and was graduated magna cum laude as valedictorian o f th e class of 1925 . T o earn money, he taugh t mathematics and science for two years at a manual-training school, and then entered Harvard Law School, where his high scholastic record earned him election to the Law Review. H e received his degree with honors in 1930, followed by a Doctor of Juridical Science degree in 1933. He joined the Washington firm of his second cousin Charles H. Houston (LL.B. 72, S.J.D. '23, and the first black on the Harvard Law Review), and taught intermittently a t the Howard University Law School, becoming its dean in 1939. Afte r a period as assistant solicitor in the Department of the Interior, h e became th e nation' s firs t blac k federa l judge , serving i n the Virgin Islands (1937-39). Durin g World War II he was an aide to the Secretary of War, but resigned in protest against the continuing segregation in the military—a public act of principle that was instrumental in winning him the Spingarn Medal in 1943. H e returned to the Virgin Islands as its firstblac k governor (1946-49). I n 1949 he became the first black judge on a federal circuit court of appeals, being elevated to chief judge in 1968, and retiring to senior-judg e statu s i n 1971 . Judg e Hasti e ha d receive d twenty-on e honorary degrees (including an LL.D. from Harvard in 1975) at the time of his death from a heart attack in Philadelphia on 14 April 1976. 262 William H. Hastie The Black Mystique Pitfall 1 More tha n thirty-fiv e year s hav e passe d sinc e I first attende d a n annual convention of the NAACP. Thinkin g back, it is amazing that in th e 1930 s nationa l an d loca l leader s o f thi s organizatio n fough t racism with suc h vigor , determinatio n an d enthusiasm . Fo r a t tha t time th e prospec t o f muc h succes s was dim. Yet , then , a s now, w e ended each general conference sessio n singing "march on til l victory is won." And thoug h th e convention delegates were not a s many as today we lifte d ever y voice an d sang loudly, an d we mean t what w e sang. We were regarded as militants and extremists because we refuse d to accep t th e notio n o f a racially segregated societ y an d demande d radical chang e i n th e racis t characte r o f th e America n wa y o f life . The NAACP was then regarded by many as both radical and impractical becaus e i t propose d t o eliminat e th e whol e comple x o f law s requiring or supporting racial segregation within a single generation. Yet, during the last 25 years we have succeeded in outlawing the entire complex of legal requirements and prohibitions which imposed racial dis-criminatio n an d segregatio n i n almos t ever y aspec t o f community life: in the armed services, in voting, in public education, in travel , i n acces s t o place s o f publi c accommodation , i n acces s t o public housing . Th e las t majo r lega l bastio n o f racis m fel l i n 196 7 when th e Suprem e Cour t rule d tha t a stat e canno t prohibi t th e marriage of a man and a woman because they are of different races . Thus, for several years we have been abl e to say and to see tha t the legal order, which was grossly and pervasively racist 30 years ago, has become basically equalitarian and largely free...

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