Black, Hugo Lafayette (1886-1971), was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1937 to 1971. He became noted for defending the right of free speech guaranteed in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Black was born on Feb. 27, 1886, in Harlan, Alabama. He served as a Democratic United States senator from Alabama from 1927 to 1937. In the Senate, he vigorously supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal policies. This support led to Black’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1937.
A month after Black became an associate justice, it was disclosed that he had once been a member of the Ku Klux Klan. The disclosure caused a national uproar. But on the court, Black strongly supported government protection of civil rights. He died on Sept. 25, 1971.
