Highlighting Black Students at Colorado Law, 1896 - 1968
February is Black History Month. At Colorado Law, we are reflecting on nearly 130 years of our Black students making their mark on our law school and uplifting others within the wider community.Ìý
The legacy of Black students who have come before continues to shape the experiences of current law students in profound ways. As we strive to broaden representation and foster a more welcoming and equitable environment within the law school and throughout the wider legal profession, the contributions and stories of these alumni provide both inspiration and a foundation for ongoing progress.Ìý
Law schools in the United States have, like some other institutions, historically reinforced structural inequalities that have disadvantaged certain groups, particularly Black men. This meant that in the early years of law schools, there were relatively few Black law students. The earliest known Black law school applicant, John Mercer Langston, applied to a proprietary law school in Ballspa, New York, in 1850. He was rejected for admission, so Langston pursued apprenticeship to become an attorney. Nearly 30 years later, Harvard Law School admitted the first known university-trained Black lawyer, George Lewis Ruffin, in 1868.1 Howard University, a historically Black University, opened its law school a year later;2 and the University of South Carolina and University of Michigan Law Schools admitted Black students in the 1870s.3 While Black colleges and universities opened law schools and expanded educational access for aspiring Black lawyers, the majority of predominantly white institutions did not admit Black students for almost 100 years.4
The University of Colorado Law School is a rare exception, enrolling at least eight Black students from its opening in 1892 to the start of its Affirmative Action program in 1968.
The Â鶹ÊÓƵ opened in 1877 with a somewhat gender-diverse, though not racially diverse, student body.5 Many of the university’s earliest alumni showed a penchant for legal studies, earning degrees first in Colorado before pursuing law degrees in the east.6 In 1892, the University of Colorado Law School opened its doors.7 The University of Colorado has never had an official system or policy of segregation regarding race or ethnicity,8 which meant that its law school also had no racial or ethnic discrimination policy either.
The absence of a formal policy of segregation allowed these five Black men and one Black woman to attend the University of Colorado Law School decades before most other predominantly white institutions opened their doors to Black students in the late 1960s,9 due to gains made during the Civil Rights Movement. Each of these six students were forerunners and, in their own ways, pivotal to the law school, the university, the state of Colorado, the Black community, and American society at large. Read their stories ³ó±ð°ù±ð.Ìý
