On this day in 1922: Legendary judge Damon Keith is born

Damon Keith, the late U.S. federal court judge, was born on July 4, 1922, in Detroit. The African American was the grandson of slaves.

As a child, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and his family attended Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit with Keith for many years. 

“I never wanted to be a lawyer, but he got me close,” Gilchrist told the Advance last week. “What he embodied, for me as a young man, was what it meant to be a public servant.” 

Wayne State University’s Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights and Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs is planning a photo exhibit later this year, which could be in-person. It would celebrate the centennial of Keith’s birth, according to university spokesperson Matt Lockwood. 

The Keith Center was dedicated in 2011 and a portion of one of his most noted statements is prominently displayed there. 

“Democracies die behind closed doors … when government begins closing doors, it selectively controls information rightfully belonging to the people. Selective information is misinformation,” Keith wrote in 2002 in the case of Detroit Free Press v. Ashcroft. The issue was a U.S. Department of Justice order in the wake of 9/11 that immigration judges should close to the public and the press all “special interest” immigration hearings.

History of Black lawyers and judges in Detroit 

Keith died in 2019 at age 96. As a young lawyer, he was inspired by those who preceded him as lawyers and as judges.

In 1870, John C. McLeod became the first African American lawyer in Michigan. Grace Costavas Murphy, Michigan’s first Black female lawyer, was admitted to the bar in 1923. Other early Black lawyers include Robert J. Willis, an African American who earned a law degree from the University of Michigan in 1893 and practiced law in Detroit for more than 30 years. His parents were Kentucky slaves who escaped and traveled to freedom via the Underground Railroad. 

Charles Mahoney, Julian Perry and Cecil Rowlette were leading attorneys during the 1920s and 1930s in Detroit and helped to defend the Black physician Ossian Sweet and his family and friends during a racially-motivated rally carried out by hostile whites at his Lower Eastside Detroit home in 1925. Harold Bledsoe helped to lead as a Black lawyer in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1936, the Democratic was appointed to serve as an assistant state attorney general.

Michigan’s first Black judge was Charles Jones of Detroit. He graduated from law school the year Keith was born. He was appointed to Detroit Recorder’s Court in 1950 by Gov. G. Mennen Williams, a Democrat. Jones’ tenure was short. He lost a bid to serve a full term in fall of 1950. The former assistant Wayne County prosecutor died in 1957.

During the 1950s, Williams led the way in appointing Blacks to judgeships. He also appointed Wade McCree to the Wayne County Circuit Court in 1954 and Elvin Davenport to Court of Common Pleas in 1957. In 1966, Geraldine Bledsoe Ford and George Crockett Jr. were elected to join Davenport on Detroit Recorder’s Court. Ford was Michigan’s first Black woman to serve as a judge.  

Keith graduated from Northwestern High School in 1939 and earned a bachelor’s degree from West Virginia State College in 1943. He served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1946 and later attended Howard University School of Law, where he received a juris doctorate in 1949. He earned a master’s degree from Wayne State University Law School in 1956.

President Lyndon Johnson nominated Keith to the federal bench in October 1967. A decade later, President Jimmy Carter tapped Keith to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals.

The judge’s legacy has been cemented by several historic rulings. In 1970, he ordered a student racial integration bus policy in Pontiac. In 1971, Keith ruled that the city of Hamtramck had illegally destroyed Black neighborhoods in the name of urban renewal.

That same year, he ruled that the President Richard Nixon administration could not engage in the warrantless wiretapping of three people suspected of conspiring to destroy government property. Keith’s opinion was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ulysses Boykin, a retired Wayne County Circuit Court judge, knew Keith well. He was a teenager when he met the noted African American federal judge.  

On this day in 1971: KKK bombs empty Pontiac buses set to racially integrate schools

“He meant a lot to me and was always willing to help me, always accessible, always trying to do what he could to help you. That was me with me personally, and other people, too” Boykin told the Advance last week.

Keith’s law clerks have included former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. 

In 1964, then-Michigan Gov. George Romney appointed Keith to serve on the newly Michigan Civil Rights Commission. He served as co-chair with John Feikens, a former Michigan Republican Party chair. 

Gilchrist said that Keith’s role as a leader of the commission was important. 

“It’s a testament to the opportunity that we’ve had here in Michigan to advance civil rights,” said Gilchrist.

Zenell B. Brown, Wayne County Circuit Court executive administrator, said Keith “fought hard for justice.”  

“On Judge Keith’s 100th birthday, I think every lawyer and judge should reflect and assess what they can do to ensure that our justice system represents the diverse public that we serve,” she said.