Miami-Dade's first Black judge left lasting legacy
MIAMI - Behind the front door of a building on NW 2nd Avenue in Overtown there is a lot of history.
The lonely little building, bricked and boarded up, is owned by the Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency.
"It has a long way to go. The building has been designated historic by the City of Miami. Right now we are in the permitting process with the city of Miami," said Overtown CRA director James McQueen.
Embossed in stucco high on the front facade of the brick structure is the name Thomas. It is here where Lawson Thomas practiced law until he was 89 years old.
So who was Lawson Thomas?
"He was the first black judge in Miami Dade County for sure," said his son John Charles Thomas.
In 1950, Lawson Thomas was appointed as the judge of the newly created City of Miami Black municipal court.
During the Jim Crow era in Miami, Black lawbreakers were detained in the Overtown neighborhood by black officers who then had to call a white officer to make the arrest. The prisoner was then taken to the Black municipal court to appear before Judge Thomas.
"He was the first Black judge in the south since Reconstruction, (it was) considered a model at the time," said John Charles Thomas.
As a lawyer, Lawson Thomas spent a career advancing civil rights.
In August 1945, Thomas was a major player in designating Virginia Key a Blacks-only beach. A breakthrough for that time as Black people were not allowed on local beaches.
He also filed lawsuits seeking equal pay for Black teachers and was an activist who organized sit-ins calling for Miami desegregation.
"His contributions to the community need to be a testament to it in some way. As a youngster I remember going to the office and being there all day, sitting with him in the office, watching him with clients coming in and out. He made the lives of so many citizens in the community better," said John Charles Thomas.
McQueen envisions the building will eventually be an art space, community center, and gallery focusing on Judge Thomas, a key to understanding the Miami Black experience.
The Lawson E. Thomas Court Center is named for him in Downtown Miami. His wife, Eugenia B. Thomas, was a pioneer in her own right. A Miami-Dade administrator, in 1988 she was elected as the first Black Florida Parent Teacher's Association President. The Eugenia B. Thomas K-8 Center honors her work.