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James Benton Parsons
James Benton Parsons (August 13, 1911 – June 19, 1993) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He was the first African American to serve as a judge in a U.S. district court.[1] Early life, education and careerBorn on August 13, 1911, in Kansas City, Missouri,[2] his family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where his father was an evangelist and missionary with the Disciples of Christ Church.[citation needed] The family subsequently lived in Lexington, Kentucky, Dayton, Ohio and Bloomington, Indiana, before settling in Decatur, Illinois.[citation needed] Parsons wanted to be an attorney by the time he was in junior high school.[citation needed] He was named "class orator" for Stephen Decatur High School class of 1929, the "first race student" to receive this honor.[citation needed] He was on the basketball team at Stephen Decatur High School coached by Gay Kintner, and also in the school band and orchestra.[citation needed] He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Millikin University in 1934.[2] Parsons first started working as acting head of music at Lincoln University in Missouri.[citation needed] He met Nathaniel Dett, a former teacher at Lincoln, who had returned for a guest performance. Dett subsequently offered Parsons a job at Bennett College, a historically black college in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he was director of music. He wanted Parsons to re-score some of Dett's chorales.[3] By 1939, Parsons had become director of instrumental music for Greensboro's Negro public schools, as the state had a segregated public school system.[citation needed] Under his direction, the band at James B. Dudley High School became known throughout the state for its expert musicianship and precision marching.[citation needed] World War II military serviceDuring World War II, Parsons enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve in May 1942.[2] Serving as a Musician MUS1, he directed the U.S. Navy B-1 Fleet Band.[citation needed] The band was organized from a core of members of the bands at Dudley High School and North Carolina A&T State University.[citation needed] B-1 was composed of the first African Americans to serve in the modern Navy at a rank higher than messman.[citation needed] It was one of more than 100 bands of African Americans organized by the Navy during the war; the other bands all trained at Camp Robert Smalls.[citation needed] B-1 trained at Norfolk and was stationed at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where it was attached to the Navy's pre-flight school on the University of North Carolina campus.[citation needed] In May 1944 the band was transferred to the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where it was stationed at Manana Barracks.[citation needed] This held the largest posting of African-American servicemen in the world.[citation needed] While there, Parsons was selected for a panel of judges that was convened by the Navy to investigate the 1944 riot in Guam among Marines.[citation needed] This experience furthered his interest in studying law.[citation needed] Throughout his service, Parsons directed B-1, but he mustered out of the Navy in 1945 as a Musician 1st class, never having made the officer's grade. He and his men believed that he had earned that.[4] Later education and careerAfter the war, Parsons used the GI Bill[citation needed] to earn his Master of Arts degree from the University of Chicago in 1946, followed by a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School in 1949.[2] Parsons entered private practice in Chicago, Illinois from 1949 to 1951, also serving as an assistant corporation counsel during that time.[2] He was appointed as an Assistant United States Attorney of the Northern District of Illinois, serving from 1951 to 1960.[2] He was a judge of the Superior Court of Cook County, Illinois from 1960 to 1961.[2] Federal judicial serviceParsons was nominated by President John F. Kennedy on August 10, 1961, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois vacated by Judge Philip Leo Sullivan.[2] He was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 30, 1961, and received his commission the same day,[2] becoming the first African American to serve as a U.S. district judge in a U.S. district court.[5] He served as Chief Judge from 1975 to 1981 and served as a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1975 to 1978.[2] He assumed senior status on August 30, 1981.[2] His service terminated on June 19, 1993, due to his death in Chicago.[2] He was interred at Greenwood Cemetery in Decatur.[citation needed] See also
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