Books and Manuscripts

Personally Legal Archive of Influential African American Federal Judge William H. Hastie

“Freedom is not won by a Declaration of Independence or a war for independence or by any other event, however historic. Freedom is never wholly won. It is a continuing process. It involves unending struggle…"

Personal Archive of Senior Court of Appeals Judge William H. Hastie
Locations vary, ca. 1950s-1970s. Archive of over 200 personal items of Judge William H. Hastie, the first African American appointed as a federal judge. He would serve on the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for over two decades. This archive is led by 42 complete or partial draft speeches, lectures, or essays, most typed or carbon copies, some in manuscript, many with Hastie's autograph corrections to text. Also includes 35 letters or invitations, most notably from Presidents Harry Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson (both mechanically signed), Supreme Court Justices Earl Warren, Arthur Goldberg, and Byron White, some with carbon copies of Hastie's replies. Also with approximately 60 photographs of Hastie giving speeches, administering oaths of office, receiving awards, or with different colleagues, as well as eight official court portraits of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, by Bachrach Studios. Finally, 18 legal periodicals, and approximately 75 newspapers, clippings, or other miscellaneous ephemera. Housed in eight of Hastie's personal brown accordion file folders, and original Bachrach Studios box. Condition varies, generally well preserved.

William H. Hastie (1904-1976) was a successful Harvard-educated lawyer working in Washington, D.C. when he accepted a position at the Department of the Interior, in 1937. His intelligence caught the attention of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he was appointed a judge to the U.S. District Court of the Virgin Islands the same year, making him the first African American elevated to the federal bench. After two years he resigned to serve as Dean of Howard University Law school, where he mentored many future prominent Black jurists including Thurgood Marshall. In 1949, President Truman appointed Hastie to the Third United States Circuit Court of Appeals, then the highest judicial position attained by an African American, where he served on the appellate court for over two decades, until his death in 1976.

While he was active in the Civil Rights movement during his entire life, Hastie first gained notoriety for his work as assistant to the Secretary of War during World War II. He was tasked to advise the U.S. Army on race relations, and in this role he vehemently called for reform to the segregationist policies he observed: African American units being given inferior equipment or training, the limited use of Black soldiers in combat, and individuals being subjected to unfair promotion requirements by white superiors. Hastie's pleas were largely unheard so he resigned in protest, earning him national attention in the contemporary media, and he was awarded the Spingarn Award by the NAACP. 

At the peak of his career Hastie was one of the most respected judges in America, and his speeches included here provide a first-hand look at his jurisprudence and Civil Rights philosophies. Given before crowds at the NAACP Convention, The National Bar Association, Howard University, The University of Rochester, and more, some titles include: “Self Government and Good Government”, “The Negro Militant”, “The Individual Freedom in Contemporary Society”, and “Observations On Leadership of the Negro Minority.”

A substantial legal archive from one of the most influential African American judges of the twentieth century.