William H. Hastie

Hastie was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of William Henry Hastie, Sr. and Roberta Childs.{{Cite book

| publisher = ABC-CLIO

| isbn = 1576072029

| volume = 1

| last = Vile

| first = John R.

| title = Great American lawyers: an encyclopedia

| location = Santa Barbara, Calif

| year = 2001

}} His maternal ancestors were African American and Native American, but European

American is also a strong possible mix. Family tradition held that one female ancestor was a Malagasy princess.{{Cite book

| edition = 1

| publisher = Routledge

| isbn = 0415926335

| pages = [https://archive.org/details/readingsfordiver0000unse/page/110 110–113]

|editor1= Maurianne Adams |editor2=Rosie Castaneda |editor3=Madeline L. Peters |editor4=Ximena Zuniga |editor5=Warren J. Blumenfeld

| last = Childs

| first = John Brown

| title = Social Justice : An Anthology on Racism, Sexism, Anti-Semitism, Heterosexism, Classism, and Ableism

| chapter = Red Clay, Blue Hills: In Honor of My Ancestors

| location = New York; London

| year = 1999

| chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/readingsfordiver0000unse/page/110

}} He graduated from Dunbar High School, a top academic school for black students.

Hastie attended Amherst College, Massachusetts in 1925, where he graduated first in his class, magna cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree. While in college, Hastie was initiated into Omega Psi Phi fraternity.{{Cite web|date=2008-02-02|title=Official Website of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.|url=http://www.oppf.org/famous.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080202063612/http://www.oppf.org/famous.asp|url-status=dead|archive-date=2008-02-02|access-date=2020-06-10}} He received a Bachelor of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1930, followed by a Doctor of Juridical Science from the same institution in 1933.

File:HON. WILLIAM H. HASTIE - CHAMPION OF JUSTICE - NARA - 535685.jpg, Domestic Operations Branch, News Bureau, in 1943]]

Hastie entered the private practice of law in Washington, D.C. from 1930 to 1933. From 1933 to 1937 he served as assistant solicitor for the United States Department of the Interior, advising the agency on racial issues. He had worked with his second cousin, Charles Hamilton Houston, to establish a joint law practice.{{Cite web|date=May 1, 2020|title=William H. Hastie 1904–1976|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/historians-and-chronicles/historians-miscellaneous-biographies/william-henry-hastie|access-date=June 10, 2020|website=Encyclopedia.com}}

In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Hastie to the District Court of the Virgin Islands,{{cite web|url=http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=%22District+Court+of+the+Virgin+Islands%22&f=treesort&fq=true&num=13&hl=true&edition=prelim&granuleId=USC-prelim-title18-section23|title=[USC04] 18 USC 23: Court of the United States defined|website=uscode.house.gov}} making Hastie the first African-American federal judge.{{Cite conference

| publisher = Tennessee State University Library

| conference = Annual Local Conference on Afro-American Culture and History

|editor1= Linda T. Wynn |editor2=Gayle Brinkley-Johnson

| last = Wynn

| first = Linda T.

|author2=Bobby L. Lovett

| title = William Henry Hastie (1904–1976)

| book-title = A Profile of African Americans in Tennessee History

| location = Nashville, US

| access-date = 2013-03-01

| date = 1995-12-15

| url = http://ww2.tnstate.edu/library/digital/hastie.htm

}} This was a controversial action; Democratic United States Senator William H. King of Utah, the Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary called Hastie's appointment a "blunder." King opposed any nominee who supported Black equality.{{cite book |last=Watts |first=Jill |author-link= |date=2020 |title=The Black Cabinet: The Untold Story of African Americans and Politics During the Age of Roosevelt|url= |location=New York |publisher=Grove Press |page=239 |isbn=978-0-8021-4866-7}}

In 1939, Hastie resigned from the court to become the Dean of the Howard University School of Law, where he had previously taught. One of his students was Thurgood Marshall, who led the Legal Defense Fund for the NAACP and was appointed as a United States Supreme Court Justice.{{Citation needed|date=December 2018}}

Hastie served as a co-lead lawyer with Thurgood Marshall in the voting rights case of Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649 (1944) in which the Supreme Court ruled against white primaries.{{cite web|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-supreme-court/321/649.html|title=SMITH v. ALLWRIGHT, 321 U.S. 649 (1944) {{!}} FindLaw|website=caselaw.findlaw.com}} One of Houston's sons became a name partner at the law firm.{{Citation needed|date=December 2018}}

During World War II, Hastie worked as a civilian aide to the United States Secretary of War Henry Stimson from 1940 to 1942. He vigorously advocated the equal treatment of African Americans in the United States Army and their unrestricted use in the war effort.{{Cite book

| edition = 1

| publisher = Bloomsbury Press

| isbn = 978-1608196081

| last = James

| first = Rawn

| title = The Double V: How Wars, Protest, and Harry Truman Desegregated America's Military

| location = New York

| date = 2013-01-22

| url-access = registration

| url = https://archive.org/details/doublevhowwarspr0000jame

}}

On January 15, 1943, Hastie resigned his position in protest against racially segregated training facilities in the United States Army Air Forces, inadequate training for African-American pilots, and the unequal distribution of assignments between whites and non-whites. That same year, he received the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP, both for his lifetime achievements and in recognition of this protest action.{{Cite web|title=Spingarn Medal|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Spingarn-Medal|access-date=2020-06-10|website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}

In 1946, President Harry S. Truman appointed Hastie as Territorial Governor of the United States Virgin Islands. He was the first African American to hold this position. Hastie served as governor from 1946 to 1949.

Hastie received a recess appointment from President Harry S. Truman on October 21, 1949, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, to a new seat authorized by 63 Stat. 493, becoming the first African-American federal appellate judge. He was nominated to the same position by President Truman on January 5, 1950. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 19, 1950, and received his commission on July 22, 1950. He served as Chief officer as a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1968 to 1971. He assumed senior status on May 31, 1971. He was a Judge of the Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals from 1972 to 1976. His service terminated on April 14, 1976, when he died in Philadelphia while he was playing golf.{{cite web|url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/hastie-william-henry|title=Hastie, William Henry – Federal Judicial Center|website=www.fjc.gov}}{{Cite news

| volume = 50

| issue = 6

| pages = 6

| title = Judge Hastie, First Black Federal Jurist, Dead at 71

| work = Jet

| date = 1976-04-29

| publisher = Johnson Publishing Company

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=csADAAAAMBAJ&q=william+hastie+golf&pg=PA6

}}

As the first African American on the Federal bench, Hastie was considered as a possible candidate to be the first African-American Justice of the Supreme Court. In an interview with Robert Penn Warren for the book Who Speaks for the Negro?, Hastie commented that as a judge, he had not been able to be "out in the hustings, and to personally sample grassroots reaction" but that for the Civil Rights Movement to succeed, both class and race must be considered.{{cite web|last1=Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities|title=William Hastie, Jr|url=http://whospeaks.library.vanderbilt.edu/interview/william-hastie|website=Robert Penn Warren's Who Speaks for the Negro? Archive|access-date=4 February 2015}}

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy considered appointing Hastie to succeed retiring Justice Charles Whittaker. But due to political calculations he did not do so, as he believed that an African-American appointee would have faced fierce opposition in the United States Senate from Southerners such as James Eastland (D-Mississippi), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Conversely, on issues other than civil rights, Hastie was considered relatively moderate, and Chief Justice Earl Warren was reportedly "violently opposed" to Hastie, as he would be too conservative as a justice.{{cite book|last1=Hutchinson|first1=Dennis J.|title="The Ideal New Frontier Judge" – The Supreme Court Review Vol. 1997 (1997)|location=|isbn=|page=379}} Justice William O. Douglas reportedly told Robert F. Kennedy that Hastie would be "just one more vote for Frankfurter." Kennedy appointed Byron White instead.

Kennedy said that he expected to make several more appointments to the Supreme Court in his presidency and that he intended to appoint Hastie to the Court at a later date.{{Cite book

| edition = 1st Mariner Books

| publisher = Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

| isbn = 978-0618219278

| last = Schlesinger

| first = Arthur Meier

| title = A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House

| location = Boston

| year = 2002

| author-link = Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uFhNxX5lrNEC&q=hastie

}}

Hastie was an elected member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.{{Cite web |title=William Henry Hastie |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/william-henry-hastie |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=William+H.+Hastie&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}} The Third Circuit Library in Philadelphia is named in Hastie's honor.See [https://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/circuit-libraries Circuit Libraries ] A permanent memorial room in his honor is hosted by The Beck Cultural Exchange Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, which also houses his personal papers.[https://www.beckcenter.net/online-tour See beckcenter.net/online-tour] In addition, an urban natural area in South Knoxville is named in his honor.See [http://www.outdoorknoxville.com/places/trails/south/william-hastie-natural-area William Hastie Natural Area]

In terms of African-American history, Hastie developed from a youthful radical to a scholarly, calm, almost aloof jurist. He said the judge always ought to be in the middle, for his basic responsibility "is to maintain neutrality while giving the best objective judgment of the contest between adversaries." He served as major influence for many lawyers and jurists, Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. was among those who clerked for him, and cites Hastie as his greatest influence. As a scion of an elite black family, he reflected its integrationist viewpoint. He said, "The Negro lawyer has played and continues to play, a very important role in the American Negro's struggle for equality."Bruce M. Stave, "Hastie. William Henry" in John A. Garraty, ed., Encyclopedia of American Biography (1974) p 498. When he resigned as the top aide on racial matters to the War Department in 1943, he said it was caused by "reactionary policies and discriminatory practices in the Army and Air Forces."Stave, 1974.

Hastie's daughter, Karen Hastie Williams, was a prominent lawyer, and the first woman of colour appointed clerk to a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.{{Cite news|last=Risen|first=Clay|date=2021-08-08|title=Karen Hastie Williams, Barrier-Breaking Lawyer, Dies at 76|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/08/obituaries/karen-hastie-williams-dead.html|access-date=2022-01-28|issn=0362-4331}}

• John F. Kennedy Supreme Court candidates
• List of African-American jurists
• List of African-American federal judges
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in the United States

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category}}

• {{Cite book

| edition = 1

| publisher = Routledge

| isbn = 0415926335

| pages = [https://archive.org/details/readingsfordiver0000unse/page/110 110–113]

|editor1= Maurianne Adams |editor2=Rosie Castaneda |editor3=Madeline L. Peters |editor4=Ximena Zuniga |editor5=Warren J. Blumenfeld

| last = Childs

| first = John Brown

| title = Readings for Diversity and Social Justice : An Anthology on Racism, Sexism, Anti-Semitism, Heterosexsm, Classism, and Ableism

| chapter = Red Clay, Blue Hills: In Honor of My Ancestors

| location = New York; London

| year = 2000

| chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/readingsfordiver0000unse/page/110

}}

• {{Cite news

| pages = 17

| last = Associated Press

| title = Hastie's Selection Termed 'Blunder'

| newspaper = The Washington Post

| date = 1937-03-02

}}

• Negro Soldiers Defended. New York Times. Oct 4, 1941. p. 14, 1 p
• Army Aide Quits; Protests Negro Pilot Treatment. Chicago Daily Tribune. Feb 1, 1943. p. 21, 1 p
• Hastie Nominated For Governorship Of Virgin Islands. The Washington Post. Jan 6, 1946. p. M1, 2 pp
• {{Cite news

| issn = 0362-4331

| pages = 8

| title = Federal Judge Dies; Slave's Grandson

| work = Los Angeles Times

| access-date = 2013-03-02

| date = 1976-04-15

| url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/692134682.html?FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+15%2C+1976&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+%281923-Current+File%29&edition=&startpage=8&desc=FEDERAL+JUDGE+DIES%3B+SLAVE%27S+GRANDSON

| archive-url = https://archive.today/20130411164558/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/692134682.html?FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+15,+1976&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+(1923-Current+File)&edition=&startpage=8&desc=FEDERAL+JUDGE+DIES;+SLAVE'S+GRANDSON

| url-status = dead

| archive-date = April 11, 2013

}}

• {{Cite news

| issn = 0362-4331

| pages = 36

| title = Judge William Hastie, 71, of Federal Court, Dies

| work = The New York Times

| access-date = 2013-03-02

| date = 1976-04-15

| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1976/04/15/archives/judge-william-hastie-71-of-federal-court-dies.html

}}

• Part of his life is retold in the 1949 radio drama "[https://archive.org/details/Destination.Freedom/Destination_Freedom_49-01-09_028_The_Boy_Who_Beat_the_Bus.mp3 The Boy Who Beat the Bus]", a presentation from Destination Freedom, written by Richard Durham

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{{s-legal}}

{{s-bef|before=George Philip Jones}}

{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the United States District Court of the Virgin Islands}}|years=1937–1939}}

{{s-aft|after=Herman Moore}}

{{s-new|seat}}

{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit}}|years=1949–1971}}

{{s-aft|after=James Rosen}}

{{s-bef|before=Austin Leander Staley}}

{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit}}|years=1968–1971}}

{{s-aft|after=Collins J. Seitz}}

{{s-off}}

{{s-bef|before=Charles Harwood}}

{{s-ttl|title=Governor of the United States Virgin Islands|years=1946–1949}}

{{s-aft|after=Morris Fidanque de Castro}}

{{s-end}}

{{Governors of the U.S. Virgin Islands}}

{{Spingarn Medal}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hastie, William H.}}

Category:1904 births

Category:1976 deaths

Category:African-American judges

Category:African-American people in United States Virgin Island politics

Category:American people of Malagasy descent

Category:Amherst College alumni

Category:Governors of the United States Virgin Islands

Category:Harvard Law School alumni

Category:Howard University faculty

Category:Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Category:Judges of the United States District Court of the Virgin Islands

Category:Lawyers from Knoxville, Tennessee

Category:United States court of appeals judges appointed by Harry S. Truman

Category:Dunbar High School (Washington, D.C.) alumni

Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society