Montgomery v. State, 1908

Justice James Bryan Whitfield

African–American defendants in early twentieth-century Florida had been consistently denied having other African-Americans as jurors.

In 1908, Justice Whitfield, writing for the Florida Supreme Court, declared in Montgomery v. State, that a black defendant “is entitled to have a jury selected and summoned without illegal discrimination of any character.”

Regarding the landmark Montgomery v. State decision that opened the way for African-Americans to sit on juries, Justice Hugo Black commented in 1948 “that Judge Whitfield should have written it in 1908 is a tribute to his courage and his character.”

Case Citation: 55 Fla. 97, 45 So. 879 (PDF)
Text: Evolution of Justice brochure (PDF)

Photo Credit: Florida Memory