Robert Davis Glass (November 28, 1922 – November 27, 2001) was the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

justice of the

Connecticut Supreme Court The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit i ...

, serving from 1987 to 1992. He was a plaintiff in ''McKissick v. Carmichael'', which desegregated the

University of North Carolina School of Law The University of North Carolina School of Law (branded as Carolina Law) is the law school of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Established in 1845, it is one of the oldest law schools in the United States and is the oldest law sch ...

in 1951.

Early life

Glass was born into poverty in the racially segregated

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the Southern United States. The term is used to describe the states which were most economically dependent on Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, plant ...

, in Wetumpka,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. His parents, Isaiah and M. E. (Jackson) Glass, were a farmhand and a

domestic worker A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly ...

. His family was too poor to afford schoolbooks, so he only began attending school at the age of ten. His mother's employer, a judge, mentored Glass, inviting him to observe court proceedings and discussing cases with him while Glass worked as his

caddie In golf, a caddie (or caddy) is a companion to the player, providing both practical support and strategic guidance on the course. Caddies are responsible for carrying the player’s bag, managing clubs, and assisting with basic course maintena ...

. Shortly after high school, Glass enlisted in the US Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, serving from 1943 to 1946 and earning the Good Conduct Medal,

World War II Victory Medal The World War II Victory Medal was a service medal of the United States military which was established by an Act of Congress on 6 July 1945 (Public Law 135, 79th Congress) and promulgated by Section V, War Department Bulletin 12, 1945. Histo ...

, and the

Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal The Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal was a United States military award of the Second World War, which was awarded to any member of the United States Armed Forces who served in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1945. The medal was create ...

. He was discharged with the rank of sergeant.

Education

A skilled athlete who stood 6 feet 7 inches tall, Glass attended

North Carolina Central University North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliati ...

(then an exclusively African American college) on a basketball scholarship. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude in 1949. Rejected from the

due to his race, Glass attended the NCCU School of Law instead. He graduated at the top of his class in 1951, when he became the first African American admitted to the North Carolina bar. His parents mortgaged their home to give Glass the $500 he needed to open a law office.

Civil rights action

With

Harold T. Epps Sr. Harold T. Epps Sr. was a prominent attorney in North Carolina who was instrumental in desegregating the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law. Early life and education Harold T. Epps Sr., a native of Asheville, N.C., obtaine ...

, Glass filed a landmark 1949 civil rights action against the

, which had denied them admission because of their race. The trial court found that Glass was ineligible to remain a plaintiff as he was not a state resident, so the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

and lead attorney

Thurgood Marshall Thoroughgood "Thurgood" Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme C ...

brought in

Floyd McKissick Floyd Bixler McKissick (March 9, 1922 – April 28, 1991) was an American lawyer and civil rights activist. He became the first African-American student at the University of North Carolina School of Law. In 1966 he became leader of CORE, the Con ...

and other Black law school applicants to continue the case. The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in ''McKissick v. Carmichael'' in March 1951, overturning a lower court ruling. The

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

declined to hear the case in June 1951. McKissick and four other African Americans were admitted to the UNC School of Law a week later.

Judicial career

In 1962, Glass moved with his family to

Waterbury, Connecticut Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Waterbury had a population of 114,403 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census. The city is southwest of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury i ...

, where he continued private practice, worked for the Connecticut Department of Labor, and briefly served as an assistant US attorney from 1966 to 1967. He was the first African American to serve as a federal prosecutor in Connecticut. Glass became president of the Connecticut State Federation of Black Democratic Clubs, where he befriended Gerald Lamb, a Waterbury resident and Connecticut's first Black state treasurer. Lamb recommended him to Governor

John N. Dempsey John Noel Dempsey (January 3, 1915 – July 16, 1989) was an American politician who was the 81st Governor of Connecticut. He was a Democrat, and began his political career at the age of 21 serving on the Putnam City Council. He later served a ...

for a judicial appointment. Glass became the first African American juvenile court judge in Connecticut Juvenile Court in 1967. Eleven years later, Governor

Ella Grasso Ella Rosa Giovianna Oliva Grasso (née Tambussi; May 10, 1919 – February 5, 1981) was an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the 83rd governor of Connecticut from January 8, 1975, to December 31, 1980, after r ...

appointed him to the bench of the

Connecticut Superior Court The Connecticut Superior Court is the state trial court of general jurisdiction. It hears all matters other than those of original jurisdiction of the Probate Court, and hears appeals from the Probate Court. The Superior Court has 13 judicial dis ...

in Waterbury in 1978, when the state's juvenile courts merged into the superior courts. In 1984, Glass became administrative judge for the judicial district of Waterbury. Glass capped his distinguished career by serving as the first African American Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court. He was nominated by Governor William A. O'Neill and served from June 22, 1987 until November 28, 1992, when he reached the court's mandatory retirement age of 70. During his five years on the state supreme court, Glass wrote 135 majority opinions. Following retirement, he became a trial referee for the state. Glass was a Baptist and member of the

Elks The Embeddable Linux Kernel Subset (ELKS), formerly known as Linux-8086, is a Linux-like operating system kernel. It is a subset of the Linux kernel, intended for 16-bit computers with limited processor and memory resources such as machines pow ...

, Masons, and

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...

Legacy

Glass died at home in Waterbury on November 27, 2001, a day short of his 79th birthday. He was survived by his wife, Doris (Powell) Glass; a son, Robert D. Glass, Jr.; two daughters, Roberta G. Brown and Rosalyn G. Roundtree, and two grandchildren. Doris Glass was a native of

Norwich, Connecticut Norwich ( ) is a city in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The Yantic River, Yantic, Shetucket River, Shetucket, and Quinebaug Rivers flow into the city and form its harbor, from which the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River f ...

, and had persuaded her husband to move to Connecticut in the first place. In honor of his late mother, Glass established the M. E. Glass Scholarship Fund to support NCCU School of Law students who exhibit “conspicuous determination by work and scholarship." The Honorable Robert D. Glass Courthouse in Waterbury was named in his honor on May 19, 2008. In 2017, he was inducted into Silas Bronson Library’s Waterbury Hall of Fame.

References