The Honorable Judge Lawson E. Thomas, born January 28, 1898, was the son of an Ocala, Florida schoolteacher and his father was a mechanic.
Judge Thomas was an outstanding civil rights activist who worked tirelessly to make a pronounced change in Miami’s social and political environment. He earned his undergraduate degree from Florida A&M University in 1919 and was the only African American graduate from the University of Michigan’s Law School in 1923. He practiced law in Detroit, Michigan and Jacksonville, Florida before moving to Miami, Florida in 1935 to open his law practice.
Judge Thomas argued cases throughout Florida, often filling the courtroom with blacks because it was rare for a black attorney in the south to try his own cases at that time. Soon after he arrived in Miami, a bailiff threatened to toss him out a sixth-floor window in Miami municipal court because he dared to challenge the custom and represent his clients in court, rather than have a white attorney appear on his behalf. Thomas ultimately presented the case and won it.
He was one of the early leaders of the civil rights movement and represented plaintiffs in lawsuits requiring the registration of African American voters in Duval County. He fought for the uniformity of the school year length in Broward County, the equalization of teacher’ salaries and the inclusion of African Americans in jury panels throughout the state. He was a frequent collaborator with Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP during the long fight to roll back segregation and banish Jim Crow.
In 1945, Thomas led a protest called wade-in over the lack of Black beaches in the county. After a few months, Dade County officials established a Black beach located on Virginia Key.
Following these and many other legal achievements, Thomas was appointed judge of Miami’s Negro Police Court in 1950. He was nominated by Robert L. Floyd, a City of Miami commissioner. Thus, he became the first black person to hold public office in the South since Reconstruction.
Judge Thomas served as President of The King of Clubs of Greater Miami, Inc., one of Miami’s oldest civic clubs founded on Monday, November 20, 1930, by a group of ten young college men who recognized the need for socialization. The members were firm in their determination that the foundation of the club should rest on civic service rather than on social extravagance.
Judge Lawson E. Thomas died in 1989 at 91, less than a year after closing his law office. He is remembered as a strict but fair judge who was deeply devoted to the progress of his race. He skillfully used the law as both “shield and sword” on his constituents’ behalf.
In 2000, he was honored with the naming of Lawson E. Thomas Courthouse Center in Downtown Miami.
“It was The Bar Association that made the naming of the courthouse possible,” said Sharmaynne Thomas, daughter of Lawson E. Thomas.
Sources:
The Black Archives History & Research Foundation of South FL, Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2022, from http://www.theblackarchives.org/archon/index.php?p=digitallibrary/digitalcontent
“The Honorable Lawson E Thomas” Commissioned Corportate Portrait. (2020, June 30). L.A. Cline Fine Art Paintings. https://laclinefineart.com/artwork/the-honorable-lawson-e-thomas-1898-1989/
Bradley, K. (2021, March 9). Lawson E. Thomas, the first Black judge in the South since reconstruction, Part 3. South Florida Media Network. https://sfmn.fiu.edu/lawson-e-thomas-the-first-black-judge-in-the-south-since-reconstruction-part-3/
