Michael A Middleton's Remarks, Missouri Bar Annual Meeting

October 20, 2003

I'd like to open this session by telling you a story of one African-American lawyer. Through that story, I hope to contextualize the topic of this morning's panel presentation. I am struck by our contemporary discussions of the consideration of race and ethnicity in developing and implementing public policy, and the increasing failure of some to appreciate the historical context in which that discussion must be had. I am also struck by the increasingly strident positions taken in that and other discussions that we must have as a nation. The tendency of some government officials to question the patriotism of those with whom they disagree is, in my view, extremely dangerous.

I hope, in speaking about the experience of one Black Lawyer in American history to provide some historical context and, perhaps provide some insight into the complementary concepts of criticism and loyalty.

In 1884 Samuel Alfred Beadle, a Black man, applied for admission to the bar in Brandon, Mississippi. He was sponsored by Anslem J. McLaurin, a white man, who later became a United States Senator from Mississippi. When McLaurin made the motion that Beadle be admitted to the bar by examination, the Judge responded, "I do not examine niggers in my court".

This was 1884; only six years after the Hayes-Tilden Compromise resulted in the withdrawal of the federal troops that had been stationed in the south to ensure that the equal protection, guaranteed to all Americans by the 14th Amendment, was afforded to the newly freed slaves. Sam Beadle had been a slave, had taught himself the law and, with support from some members of the established white legal community, was prepared to insist on his right to join the bar. Later that year, he was allowed to be examined.

According to Professor J. Clay Smith in his book, "Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, 1844 - 1944," "Beadle's bar examination drew a crowd." As was the custom at that time, the bar examination was conducted by the judge in open court. "Almost half of the thirty-six lawyers in Jackson, Mississippi were in the courtroom when Beadle was examined. The court examined him extensively on the legal principles contained in Blackstone. He was also required to answer questions posed by the lawyers observing in the courtroom. According to Beadle's account, it was as though '[I] was being tried for [my] life or liberty'.

Beadle's performance was exceptional - so exceptional that when the examination ended, the lawyers "carried Beadle around on their shoulders in recognition of his triumph." He was admitted to the Mississippi bar in 1884. (One year after the death of Sojourner Truth) (Eleven years before the death of Frederick Douglass)

Beadle's triumph, however, was short lived. Because the federal troops had been withdrawn, racism in the South was free to make resurgence. Beadle could not practice in many cities in the State of Mississippi because judges in those cities refused to allow him to enter their courtrooms and threatened his life if he tried to represent clients there.

In the cities where he could practice, he prospered. He obtained charters for, and became counsel to, several banks. Beadle also represented a large white merchant firm from which he drew a substantial retainer and payment for all of his office expenses each year. He also handled some of the owner's personal affairs until white racists pressured him to sever his relationship with Beadle.

The Mississippi State Constitution of 1890 set in place the infamous Jim Crow laws. In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed those laws, declaring, in Plessy v. Fergusen, that segregation on the basis of race was constitutionally permissible. The resurgence of racism in this post-reconstruction period and the eradication of the gains Blacks made in their struggle for equality were devastating. Recorded lynchings had increased to a peak in the 1890's.

Sam Beadle, who had five sons, continued to practice law in Jackson, Mississippi until it became both impossible to make a living and life threatening even to try. He eventually left his home and most of his family in Mississippi, moved to Chicago and began to record his thoughts and experiences.

I want to read for you, one of his poems called "My Country." Understand, this poem was published in 1912, just a few years after he was forced by the racism of the citizens of his state, with the complicity of his state and federal governments, to abandon his lucrative law practice and to leave his home or be killed. (This was the year that Thurgood Marshall celebrated his 4th birthday, one year before Harriett Tubman's death, 3 years before Booker T. Washington's death and the year my mother's birth.)

The question immediately arises; how could a Black man who had personal experience with slavery, who struggled to study law at a time when access to the study of law and admission to the bar was controlled by people who had the power of, and the desire for, complete subjugation, a Black man who overcame those barriers - How could that Black man, who was forced by the violent racism directed at him and his family by his government, - forced to give up a lucrative practice and leave the place of his birth, - how could that African-American write so patriotic a piece?

He wrote,

Anticipating that some would criticize his naive optimism, and knowing that there were those who would eliminate him under the prevailing racist doctrine, he respectfully requested that they not further deprive him his right to imagine the America that ought to be. - Not the political entity called United States of America, but an ideal and an aspirational "America".

The founders, to their credit, were able to articulate an ideal that inspires poetry. But at the same time, the country was violating the very values they articulated by enslaving an entire race of mankind. It was not until 1869 (only 15 years before Sam Beadle passed the bar) that the 14th Amendment constitutionally guaranteed to blacks the same rights as all other Americans. It was not until 1954 (17 years before I passed the bar) that segregation was declared unconstitutional. It was not until the middle 1960's (when I was in College) that blacks gained comprehensive statutory protection from discrimination through the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960's. And the condition of African-Americans in the United States remains today, far worse than it ought to be.

When I was a child attending a segregated school in my home State of Mississippi the 1950's, even we children understood the inconsistency between what was, and what was promised. I note that this was only 40 years after Sam Beadle wrote about it and some 10 years before Dr. King captured it so eloquently for the world to hear at the base of the Lincoln memorial. I can recall many of us muttering sarcastically at the end of our daily pledge of allegiance, "with liberty and justice for all white people." We knew the ideal. We learned it in school (though out of hand-me-down textbooks). We learned it in church. But we could only imagine what it would be like to experience it.

Martin Luther King often spoke of "holding America to her promise." When he spoke in 1963 of his "dream, deeply rooted in the American dream," he was expressing a patriotism deeply rooted in the African-American experience. He was speaking for the countless African-Americans throughout history who, while struggling against the most oppressive forms of racism, understood something that we, as lawyers, have always understood, and must never forget - - that the values and ideals contained in this country's foundational documents set the standards that could bring America to reality. As Sam Beadle said, "the Law is the strength of the brave."

I tell this story to make three points that I think are important to the panel discussion to follow.

First, Sam Beadle's story reminds us that, contrary to popular belief, true patriotism, true loyalty to America, demands that we criticize government when it acts inconsistent with our American ideals.

Secondly, it reminds us that the Law, while the foundation upon which those American Ideals rests, has its limits in resolving the racial flaw imbedded in the very fabric of this nation.

Lastly, it reminds us of the need to be vigilant in our efforts to secure America for all Americans. Despite the Supreme Court's recent decision supporting efforts to achieve diversity in higher education, left unchecked, the power of structural racism will re-emerge in what many anticipate as this nation's second post-reconstruction period, and eviscerate all of the gains we have made toward achieving a non-racial democratic society.

In closing, I would like to add one more note about the permanence of racism in our society. There are those who argue with regard to the debates surrounding Affirmative Action and racial justice in the United States, that our history of slavery and overt discrimination has little to do with the racial inequality that currently exists in our society. They challenge present day efforts to increase access to opportunities for marginalized groups as unconnected to this nation's tragic racial history.

To put this argument in proper perspective, let me tell you that my familiarity with Sam Beadle comes, not because I am a student of obscure, little known African-American lawyers, but because Sam Beadle was my great-grandfather. My Great Grandfather's experience is obviously an integral part of my experience and the experience of my entire family. The families of all African-Americans have been affected by histories similar to and often much more devastating that Sam Beadle's. The inter-generational effects of racism in the United States - (the social, economic, psychological, and cultural vestiges of our ugly racial history) - are undeniable and they have a profound impact on the attitude, actions and perspectives of every American.

I believe that we are making progress, over the long and cyclic run, in creating the America that we can imagine. Even though the self-evident truths articulated by our founders were not embraced by our government during the infancy of the United States and more recent efforts of government have proved largely ineffective in correcting damage done by that national tragedy, we must continue to pursue and legitimately express our patriotism for "the imaginable." - the promise that is "America".

Thank you for indulging me this afternoon.

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