"Emancipation is the first truly comprehensive reference book covering the first one hundred years of African Americans in the legal profession. Other legal historians and biographers must take Smith's work as a starting point for gauging the impact Black lawyers and institutions have had upon the evolution of the American legal profession."

"The sheer quantity of information contained in Emancipation is overwhelming; the impact of page after page of data, stories and lives, and the thousands of detailed, extensive footnotes and documentation is simply overpowering. It is a monumental achievement."

"A remarkable piece of scholarship. . . . Emancipation contains a wealth of information previously unknown even to those who consider themselves well-informed about African-American history. . . . It will, I am sure, serve as the definitive authority on the history of black lawyers for years to come."

J. Clay Smith, Jr. (1942-2018) was Professor of Law and Dean at the Howard University School of Law. He served as President of the Washington Bar Association, as National President of the Federal Bar Association, and was appointed by President Jimmy Carter U.S. Commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, of which he later served as Acting Chairman under President Ronald Reagan. He is the author of Rebels in Law: Voices in History of Black Women Lawyers and editor of Supreme Justice: Speeches and Writings of Thurgood Marshall, the latter also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Foreword, by Justice Thurgood Marshall
Preface
Introduction

Chapter 1 Black Students in White Law Schools and the Black Law Schools
Chapter 2 New England: The Genesis of the Black Lawyer
Chapter 3 The Atlantic States
Chapter 4 The Southeastern States
Chapter 5 The Southern States
Chapter 6 The Southwestern States
Chapter 7 The Northeastern States
Chapter 8 The Northwestern States
Chapter 9 The Pacific States
Chapter 10 National White and Black Bar Groups and the State Black Bar Groups

Appendix 1. The First Black Lawyers, 1844-1944
Appendix 2. U.S. Census: The Number of Lawyers in Each State/Territory by Race and Sex, 1850-1940
Bibliography
Table of Cases
Index