Silas Robbins
Silas Robbins | |
|---|---|
 Phototype from the Progress, June 21, 1890 | |
| Born | February 14, 1857 |
| Died | September 11, 1916 Omaha, Nebraska, US |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Silas Robbins (February 14, 1857 – September 11, 1916)[1] was the first African American admitted to practice law in the U.S. state of Nebraska in 1889, and the first Black person in Omaha, Nebraska to be admitted to the Nebraska State Bar Association.[2]
Biography
[edit]Prior to serving in Nebraska, Robbins was admitted to the bar in Indiana and Mississippi.[3]
In 1887 Robbins became the second African American to run for Nebraska State Legislature, winning the endorsement of Gilbert Hitchcock's Omaha World-Herald. After losing the race, Robbins continued to serve in Omaha.
In 1889 Robbins became the first Black lawyer admitted to practice in Nebraska, sixteen years after the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that Black people could not be excluded from serving on juries. In 1892 he became the first African American to be listed on the Douglas County Bar Association.[4] In 1893 he secured a patent from the United States Patent Office for a game he created called "politics".[5]
One of Robbins' most famous cases was the 1890 habeas corpus petition of a young man named Till, who was being enslaved in Filmore County almost thirty years after the Emancipation Proclamation legally ended slavery.[6] The case was featured in newspapers at the time, and was settled in Till's favor outside of court.[7]
In 1898, Robbins was appointed to the Mixed Congress. Governor Silas Holcomb appointed Robbins to this position, and Robbins attended several Mixed Congress events.[4]
When the Populist Party took power in Omaha, Robbins served as the tax commissioner from 1900 to 1901 and again from 1903 to 1905. Afterward he focused primarily on real estate law, and maintained a reputation as one of Omaha's "best known colored attorneys."[8][9]
Robbins committed suicide on September 11, 1916, by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the temple,[10] apparently motivated by a long term illness.[11]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Silas Robbins". Nebraska Gravestones. 16 February 2013.
- ^ "Nebraska's History". Nebraska Department of Economic Development. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 19 August 2008.
- ^ "Nebraska lawyer commits suicide". New York News. September 21, 1916.
- ^ a b "A Biography of Silas Robbins". NorthOmahaHistory.com. 2019-02-19. Retrieved 2025-06-23.
- ^ (1893) "Game apparatus"[dead link], United States Patent Office. Retrieved 8/19/08.
- ^ Jagodinsky, Katrina; Young, Cory; Varsanyi, Andrew; Weakly, Laura; Dalziel, Karin; Dewey, William; Chambers, Erin; Tunink, Greg. "In the matter of application of M. O. Ricketts for a Writ of Habeas Corpus for the body of 'Till'". Petitioning for Freedom: Habeas Corpus in the American West, 1812-1924. University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Retrieved 2025-06-23.
- ^ Young, Cory James (2025-05-20). ""A Slave in Nebraska" and Other Black Habeas Activism on the Gilded Age Plains". The Western Historical Quarterly. 56 (2): 117–131. doi:10.1093/whq/whaf001. ISSN 0043-3810.
- ^ Smith, J.C. (1993). Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, 1844-1944. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 464.
- ^ Nebraska Writers' Project, Work Projects Administration (1940). "THE NEGROES OF NEBRASKA - Negroes In The Professions". Livingston County Michigan Historical & Genealogical Project. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Well Known Attorney Commits Suicide" (PDF). The Monitor. Omaha, Nebraska. September 16, 1916. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2015.
- ^ "Silas Robbins kills self: Ill health cause". Omaha World-Herald. September 12, 1916. p. 3.