Judson Whitlocke Lyons

Judson Whitlocke Lyons was an American politician and attorney. He became the first African American attorney in Georgia in 1884 and later served as the Register of the Treasury.

Judson Whitlocke Lyons
Judson Whitlocke Lyons
Register of the Treasury
In office
April 7, 1898 – April 1, 1906
Personal details
Born1860
Burke County, Georgia, U.S.
Died1924 (aged 63–64)
Richmond County, Georgia, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Political partyRepublican
Alma materHoward University (LL.B.)
OccupationLawyer

Early life and education

Lyons was born into slavery in Burke County, Georgia in 1860 and moved with his family to Augusta, Georgia in 1871. He attended the Augusta Institute, which later became Morehouse College. Lyons graduated from the Howard University School of Law in 1884.[1]

Career

Lyons was active in Republican Party politics from an early age.[2] In 1880, Lyons was the youngest member of the Republican National Convention at the age of 20. He briefly worked in the Tresury Department before enrolling in law school. After graduating Lyons was admitted to the Georgia Bar, becoming the first African American licensed to practice law in the state.

He formed a law firm in 1896 with Henry Moses Porter.[3] Lyons was elected to represent Georgia on the Republican National Committee in 1896.[4]

After his election President William McKinley sought to appoint Lyons as the Postmaster of Augusta but was withdrawn due to objections over his race.[5] He was then appointed Register of the Treasury in 1898 and was the second African American to hold this post. He was reappointed in 1901 after receiving support from Booker T. Washington. Lyons later fell into disfavor with Washington after Washington learned that Lyons had expressed sympathy towards William Monroe Trotter after the 1903 Boston Riots.[3] Lyons was not reappointed and left office in 1906. He lost reelection to the Republican National Committee in 1908.[6]

After his political career Lyons served president of the Board of Trustees at the Haines Normal and Industrial Institute. Lyons died on June 22, 1924 in Augusta, Georgia.[1]

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See also

References
  1. "JUDSON W. LYONS (1858-1924)". BlackPast.org. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  2. Clarke, Thomas H.R.; McKay, Barney (1901). A Republican Text-Book for Colored Voters. Washington, D.C.: T.H.R. Clarke and B. McKay. Retrieved February 28, 2016. W. Bourke Cocharn, of New York, a leading Northern Democrat, has emphasized the above expression of Senator Tillman by advocating a repeal of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Thus the Democratic party North and South is joining hands to disfranchise the negro.
  3. Smith, Jr, J. Clay (1999). "Southeastern States". Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, 1844-1944. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 197. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  4. Rossiter Johnson; John Howard Brown (1904). The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans. VIII. Biographical Society. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  5. "Judson Lyons Rejected as Postmaster of Augusta, GA". historyengine.richmond.edu. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  6. Washington, Booker T; Harlan, Louis R.; Smock, Raymond W (1975). "From Timothy Thomas Fortune". Booker T. Washington Papers Volume 4: 1895-98. University of Illinois Press. p. 394. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
Preceded by
Blanche Kelso Bruce		 Register of the Treasury
April 7, 1898 to April 1, 1906		 Succeeded by
William Tecumseh Vernon
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