In the mid nineteenth century, when slavery still dominated much of the United States, a small number of Black professionals began using the law to fight the system. One of the most remarkable among them was Robert Morris, a Boston attorney who devoted his career to defending Africans who had escaped slavery and actively supporting the abolitionist movement that sought to end the institution altogether.
Morris was one of the first Black lawyers in the United States. At a time when African Americans were denied most basic rights, he entered the legal profession and used the courts as a weapon against slavery. Throughout his life he represented freedom seekers threatened with capture under federal law and took part in some of the most dramatic anti slavery struggles in Boston.
Early Life and Law School
Robert Morris was born on June 8, 1823, in Salem, Massachusetts, to York and Mercy Morris, both free African Americans, at a time when debates over slavery were already shaping public life across the northern states. The region where he grew up had become a center of anti slavery activism, where abolitionists openly challenged the institution and supported those fleeing bondage.
When Morris was fifteen years old, he moved to Boston and found work as a household servant for Ellis Gray Loring, a well known abolitionist lawyer. While working in Loring’s household, Morris observed his employer’s legal work and developed an interest in the law.
Loring soon noticed Morris’s intelligence and interest in law. Instead of treating him only as a servant, he began teaching him legal principles. Morris learned by reading legal books, copying documents, and observing court proceedings.
At a time when formal law schools were rare and many lawyers learned through apprenticeships, this training gave Morris the opportunity to enter the legal profession.
After several years of study, Morris was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1847. This made him one of the earliest African American lawyers in the country.
Opening a law practice in Boston was no small achievement for a Black man in the 1840s. Racial discrimination was widespread, and many white clients refused to work with Black professionals. Nevertheless, Morris established himself as a capable attorney and soon became known within Boston’s Black community.
Instead of pursuing only profitable cases, Morris used his legal skills to challenge slavery and racial discrimination.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
In 1850 the United States government passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The law allowed slaveholders and federal authorities to capture escaped slaves even in northern states where slavery had been abolished.
Cities such as Boston became major battlegrounds between slave catchers and abolitionists. Morris became one of the lawyers who defended freedom seekers who had escaped from slavery and were threatened with being returned to the South.
The case of Shadrach Minkins
One of the most famous cases Morris was connected with involved Shadrach Minkins.
Minkins had escaped slavery in Virginia and found work in Boston as a waiter. In 1851 federal authorities arrested him under the Fugitive Slave Act.
Morris and other lawyers immediately attempted to challenge the arrest in court. While legal efforts were underway, a group of abolitionists stormed the courthouse and freed Minkins from federal custody.
Minkins was quickly hidden and transported along the Underground Railroad to Canada, where he lived as a free man.
Authorities later charged Morris and several other abolitionists with participating in the rescue. However, he was eventually acquitted.
The Anthony Burns trial
Another major case involved Anthony Burns, a man who escaped slavery and fled to Boston in 1854.
Burns was captured and brought to trial under the Fugitive Slave Act. Morris joined the legal team defending him along with other prominent lawyers.
Despite large protests across Boston, the court ruled against Burns. Federal troops were deployed throughout the city to ensure that he was returned to Virginia. The dramatic escort of Burns through the streets of Boston shocked many residents and intensified opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act.
Not long afterward, abolitionists raised money to purchase Burns’s freedom.
Challenging Segregated Schools
Morris also took part in one of the earliest legal challenges to segregation in American education.
In 1848 he worked with future senator Charles Sumner to challenge segregated public schools in the case Roberts v. City of Boston.
The case argued that separating Black children into different schools was discriminatory and denied them equal education. Although the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled against Morris in 1850, the case later became historically important.
Decades later, the United States Supreme Court cited the decision when it issued the ruling in the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson that established the doctrine of “separate but equal.” That doctrine would eventually be overturned in 1954 in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education.
Supporting the Massasoit Guards
Following the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, Boston’s Black community feared that slave catchers could kidnap free Black residents and claim they were escaped slaves.
In response, an African American militia known as the Massasoit Guards was formed to protect the Black community in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood.
Morris repeatedly petitioned the Massachusetts legislature for official recognition of the group, although the state never formally recognized it.
Later life
After the American Civil War ended slavery, Morris continued practicing law and remained active in political and community life.
He fought discrimination in housing and attempted to challenge racial barriers in public life. In 1866 he even ran for mayor of the city of Chelsea, Massachusetts.
Although he did not win the election, his candidacy itself was remarkable during a time when Black political participation was still extremely limited.
Death and legacy
Robert Morris died on December 12, 1882, in Boston at the age of fifty nine.
By the time of his death, he had spent decades defending African Americans and challenging the legal foundations of slavery and segregation. As one of the first Black lawyers in the United States, Morris used the courtroom as a tool to oppose injustice and protect people who had escaped bondage.
His career helped open the door for later generations of Black attorneys who continued the struggle for civil rights in the United States.
Sources:
https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/law/sites/students/library/special-collections/robert-morris.html
https://thewestendmuseum.org/history/era/west-boston/robert-morris/
https://www.nps.gov/people/robert-morris.htm
https://coloredconventions.org/black-mobility/delegates/robert-morris/
