Early Black Graduates of WashU

Crittenden E. Clark was one of the earliest Black graduates of Washington University School of Law, earning his degree in 1897 as the only African American in his class. His achievement reflected both the possibilities and limits of inclusion at the university during this period. Clark went on to a distinguished legal and political career in St. Louis, becoming one of the few Black attorneys in the city with a WashU law degree and an active figure in local Republican Party politics. In 1922, he became the first African American elected justice of the peace in Missouri, and later, at the age of seventy-five, served as an associate city counselor. A longtime resident of the Mill Creek neighborhood, where he lived for four decades, Clark was widely respected as a civic leader, and his success underscores both the rarity and significance of Black legal achievement in the late nineteenth century.

James L. Sweatt III became the first Black graduate of Washington University’s School of Medicine in 1962. During his admissions process, he endured excessive scrutiny not faced by white applicants, yet he excelled academically and professionally. Sweat’s achievement represented a major breakthrough in the integration of the university’s professional schools. Sweatt later became a cardiothoracic surgeon, served on the board of Parkland Memorial Hospital, and in 1995 became the first Black president of the Dallas County Medical Society. His determination helped open doors for future generations of Black physicians.