Black, Hugo LaFayette (1886-1971)

US jurist. He was elected to the US Senate 1926 and, despite his earlier association with the Ku Klux Klan, distinguished himself as a progressive populist. He was appointed to the US Supreme Court by Franklin D Roosevelt in 1937, resigning shortly before his death.

Black was born in Harlan, Alabama, and was educated at the University of Alabama. He became a barrister in 1906. He served as judge and prosecuting attorney in Birmingham, Alabama, before entering the Senate. His majority opinion in 1952 held invalid the seizure of the steel companies by President Harry S Truman.

Among his decisions concerning personal and civil rights were those rendered in Board of Education v. Barnette 1943, Korematsu v. US 1944, and Gideon v. Wainwright 1963.