A pillar of Fort Worth’s Black community, legal scene, and civil rights laid down his gavel after a lifetime of advocacy. Retired Judge L. Clifford Davis died last week at 100 years old.
Tarrant County’s first Black elected judge has been called a legend, pioneer, and treasure for his work in ending segregation in North Texas. Keep reading to see all he did for Fort Worth and its residents.
Born in Wilton, Arkansas on October 12, 1924, Davis was denied admission to the University of Arkansas School of Law based on race. Instead, he earned a law degree from Howard University before going on to assist Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP in the 1954 landmark case Brown v. Board of Education Topeka, Kansas.
In 1956, Davis represented five Black students who wanted to attend Mansfield High School in Jackson v. Rawdon, prompting the desegregation of Mansfield ISD. Three years later, he won the Flax v. Potts case, desegregating Fort Worth ISD.
In 1977, Davis and 13 other local attorneys formed the Fort Worth Black Bar Association, which later became the Tarrant County Black Bar Association and then the L. Clifford Davis Legal Association.
In 1983, Davis became the first appointed Black judge to preside over a district court in Tarrant County, where he served until 1988. At age 92, the University of Arkansas School of Law granted him an honorary doctorate in place of the one he was denied in 1949. Read more on Davis’ life in his obituary.
The public is invited to honor Davis at his funeral service on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at St. Andrew United Methodist Church. The service begins at 11 a.m.
