Today's Date: March 29, 2024
National University Receives 2024 Military Friendly® Gold Designation   •   Midea Group releases its first-ever ESG brand story with an unexpected VIP visit highlighting its commitment to sustainability.   •   Seniors Helping Seniors® In-Home Care Services Expands to North Houston   •   Chosgo K23: One of the Best Bluetooth Hearing Aids for Seniors   •   Anaergia Announces Delay in the Filing of Its Audited Financial Statements and Related Disclosures   •   Navigating Spring Break Sexual Health: Advice from Dr. Deb Laino Sex and Relationship Therapist and Powerful Life Coach   •   Walmart Connect Announced as Presenting Sponsor of the 2024 WIN Summit   •   Syngenta Group reports $32.2 billion sales and $4.6 billion EBITDA in 2023   •   Navigating Birth Control: Expert Advice from Dr. Bana Kashani, OB-GYN   •   World Class Dyslexia, Literacy, and Neuroscience Experts Gather with Educators for Two-Day Professional Learning Event   •   Naropa University Launches Pioneering Psychedelic Minor     •   Committee for Children Now Offers a PreK-12 Full-Suite Solution with the Highly Anticipated Launch of Second Step® High Scho   •   Coachella Concerned That People Have Sex, Says AHF   •   101 Mobility® Eden Prairie: Leading the Way in Mobility and Accessibility Solutions   •   Anaergia Announces Escrow Closing of Second Tranche of the Strategic Investment   •   e.l.f. Cosmetics Debuts TikTok Shop Super Brand Day   •   Unique online yoga platform offers lifeline for menopausal women   •   Charity Navigator Launches Women's Advocacy List for Women's History Month   •   AMIGOS FOR KIDS LAUNCHES "THE MISSING REVIEW"   •   Re:wild and Colossal Biosciences team up to leverage revolutionary technology to save critically endangered species on the brink
Bookmark and Share

Black Scholar To Be Admitted To Bar After 163 Yrs

 PITTSBURGH -- More than a century and a half after he was first denied admission to the Allegheny County Bar because of the color of his skin, George Boyer Vashon, an African-American legal scholar and abolitionist, will officially be admitted to the state bar by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in a ceremony to be held on October 20 at 9 a.m. at the City-County Building in Pittsburgh.

In conjunction with that ceremony, national law firm Duane Morris LLP is hosting a reception on October 19 to recognize the life and career of Vashon, whose great-grandson Nolan N. Atkinson, Jr., serves as the Duane Morris' Chief Diversity Officer. Judges and members of the Pittsburgh bar will be in attendance. The reception, co-sponsored by the Allegheny County Bar Association, will be held at the Rivers Club in Pittsburgh from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. It will feature notable memorabilia from Vashon's life—including photographs and letters from the 1800s—that belong to collector and educator Calvin Riley of St. Louis, which was where Vashon's family resided after his death. The press is invited to both events.

"We are deeply honored to be able at last to recognize the life and work of a learned Pennsylvania native whose accomplishments may have been ignored in his own lifetime, but which have had a profound effect on us today," said John Soroko, Duane Morris Chairman.

Atkinson and Pittsburgh attorney Wendell G. Freeland played a key role in finally winning official recognition from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for Vashon, who was twice rejected by the Allegheny County Bar, in 1847 and again in 1868, and who was later admitted to practice not only in New York, but also before the U.S. Supreme Court.

"This official recognition both acknowledges Mr. Vashon's many accomplishments in law, scholarship, education and justice—often in the face of great resistance—and finally redresses an historical injustice," said Atkinson, a senior litigator with the firm. "While my great-grandfather could not enjoy this recognition in his own lifetime, at last we, today, can honor his learning and struggles, which have benefited so many people in the ensuing years."

During his lifetime, Vashon was active in the abolitionist movement in Pennsylvania. He was also a dedicated scholar and linguist who studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Sanskrit. He was the first African-American to graduate from Oberlin College in Ohio, where he was class valedictorian. His father John Vashon was an abolitionist who established the first school for black students in Pittsburgh. Over the years, friends of the Vashon family included abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison as well as Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington.

Atkinson was joined in submitting the application to the court by his nephew, Paul N.D. Thornell, a great-great-grandson of Vashon. Thornell's article, "The Absent Ones and the Providers: A Biography of the Vashons"—which appears in The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 83, No. 4 (Autumn 1998) at 284–301—was exhibit "A" of the filing.


About George Boyer Vashon

George Boyer Vashon was born in Carlisle, Pa., in 1824. His father was an abolitionist who was a well-respected leader in the black community and the abolitionist movement. As a teenager, Vashon co-founded the Pittsburgh anti-slavery society in 1838. He attended Oberlin College, where he was the first African-American to receive a bachelor's degree.

Vashon apprenticed for the law in Pittsburgh under Judge Walter Forward, who was later U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Because of his race, he was not allowed to sit for the Pennsylvania bar exam. Vashon moved to New York and became the first licensed African-American attorney in that state. He then taught in Haiti; practiced law in Syracuse, N.Y.; was a professor at New York Central College; and later returned to Pittsburgh, where he became a principal at African-American public schools. Vashon served as president of Avery College and moved to Washington, D.C., where he was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1867, he became the first black professor at Howard University. Vashon became a professor of ancient and modern languages at Alcorn University in 1873. He died in Mississippi in 1878 during a yellow-fever epidemic. 

About Duane Morris

Duane Morris LLP, a full-service law firm with more than 700 attorneys in 24 offices in the United States and internationally, offers innovative solutions to the legal and business challenges presented by today's evolving global markets.


STORY TAGS: BLACK , AFRICAN AMERICAN , MINORITY , CIVIL RIGHTS , DISCRIMINATION , RACISM , NAACP , URBAN LEAGUE , RACIAL EQUALITY , BIAS , EQUALITY



Back to top
| Back to home page
Video

White House Live Stream
LIVE VIDEO EVERY SATURDAY
alsharpton Rev. Al Sharpton
9 to 11 am EST
jjackson Rev. Jesse Jackson
10 to noon CST


Video

LIVE BROADCASTS
Sounds Make the News ®
WAOK-Urban
Atlanta - WAOK-Urban
KPFA-Progressive
Berkley / San Francisco - KPFA-Progressive
WVON-Urban
Chicago - WVON-Urban
KJLH - Urban
Los Angeles - KJLH - Urban
WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
New York - WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
WADO-Spanish
New York - WADO-Spanish
WBAI - Progressive
New York - WBAI - Progressive
WOL-Urban
Washington - WOL-Urban

Listen to United Natiosns News