Soul of the Court by Tonya Bolden, Hardcover, 9781496832924 | Buy online at The Nile
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Soul of the Court

The Trailblazing Life of Judge William Benson Bryant Sr.

Author: Tonya Bolden   Series: Margaret Walker Alexander Series in African American Studies

Soul of the Court
Hardcover

Written by award-winning author Tonya Bolden, this biography presents the story of William Benson Bryant’s remarkable, pioneering life in the law - one that began in a segregated DC and included many years as an extraordinary criminal defense attorney.

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Summary

Written by award-winning author Tonya Bolden, this biography presents the story of William Benson Bryant’s remarkable, pioneering life in the law - one that began in a segregated DC and included many years as an extraordinary criminal defense attorney.

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Description

Legal legend Judge Louis F. Oberdorfer once stated that there were ""only two people in the world who really understood the Constitution"" and its impact on American lives. One was Hugo Black, deceased Supreme Court justice. The other was William Benson Bryant Sr. (1911-2005), who in the early 1950s became the first Black assistant US attorney to try cases in Washington, DC’s federal court, and became that same court’s first Black chief judge in 1977. Written by award-winning author Tonya Bolden, this biography presents the story of Bryant’s remarkable, pioneering life in the law—one that began in a segregated DC and included many years as an extraordinary criminal defense attorney, most notably as the dogged defender of Andrew Mallory, a young poor Black man sentenced to the electric chair for the 1954 rape of a white woman. Bryant fought for Mallory’s life all the way to the US Supreme Court, chiefly on the grounds that Mallory’s confession—the most damning evidence against him—was the fruit of an illegal detention. The High Court overturned Mallory’s conviction. Mallory v. United States was among the cases that culminated in the landmark 1966 Miranda rule.

Appointed to federal judicial service by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, Bryant’s forty-year tenure included cases ranging from overturning a corrupted election of the United Mine Workers and unconstitutional conditions at the DC jail. The biography draws upon an array of documents, newspaper articles, interviews with the judge’s friends, colleagues, and family members, as well as oral histories, including Judge Bryant’s. Bolden beautifully narrates the story of a life of compassion, unparalleled integrity, and unwavering belief in the dignity of every human being.

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Critic Reviews

A beautiful testament to a man who refused to accept the limitations that society attempted to place on him because he was born Black in Georgia during Jim Crow to a single mother whose family fled to DC to escape racial terror. He defied the odds to become a successful lawyer who shaped Supreme Court precedent, chief judge of the DC federal court, and an important reminder that your circumstances need not define you.--Michelle Coles, author of Black Was the Ink
In this splendid biography, Tonya Bolden tells the story of the remarkable life of an African American man who grew up in segregated Washington, DC, was one of the best trial attorneys in the city, and then became one of the great jurists of our time. Bolden's inspiring book tells Judge Bryant's story in the context of the key historical events during his life and conveys the judge's extraordinary character, wisdom, and optimism.--William B. Schultz, law clerk to Judge Bryant, public interest lawyer, former deputy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and former general counsel of the Department of Health and Human Services

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About the Author

Tonya Bolden has authored, coauthored, and edited more than fifty books for readers of various ages. Many of her titles have garnered starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and other publications. Her numerous awards include a Children’s Book Guild of Washington, DC’s Nonfiction Award for her body of work. This magna cum laude baccalaureate of Princeton University with a master’s degree from Columbia University lives in New York City.

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Product Details

Publisher
University Press of Mississippi
Published
28th February 2025
Pages
277
ISBN
9781496832924

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