Charles Hamilton Houston
One of the most influential figures in African American life between the two world wars was Charles Hamilton Houston. A scholar and lawyer, he dedicated his life to freeing his people from the bonds of racism.
Houston earned an undergraduate degree at Amherst College and a law degree at Harvard University. When he returned to Washington to join his father’s law firm, he began taking on civil rights cases. Mordecai Johnson, the first African American president of Howard University, named Houston to head the law school in 1929. Houston set out to train attorneys who would become civil rights advocates.
Charles Houston
Charles Houston was one of the most important civil rights attorneys in American history. A lawyer, in his view, was an agent for social change—“either a social engineer or a parasite on society.”(Lent by Charles Hamilton Houston Jr.)
Charles with his Father and Mother
Charles Houston grew up in a middle-class family in Washington, D.C. His father, William Le Pre Houston, was an attorney, and his mother, Mary Hamilton Houston, a seamstress.(Courtesy of Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University Archives)
Lieutenant Houston in Artillery Unit, World War
During World War I, Houston was an artillery officer in France. He witnessed and endured the racial prejudice inflicted on black soldiers. These encounters fueled his determination to use the law as an instrument of social change.(Lent by Charles Hamilton Houston Jr.)
Dictaphone
Charles Houston used this Dictaphone to make voice recordings that were transcribed into letters and legal documents. He also recorded the testimony of clients and preserved his thoughts about legal strategy and the details of his cases.(Lent by Charles Hamilton Houston Jr.)
William Houston in his Law Office
William Houston practiced law in Washington, D.C., for more than four decades, and taught legal office management at Howard University’s law school.(Lent by Charles Hamilton Houston Jr.)
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