BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN " EDWARD H, MORRIS " BORN A SLAVE BUT LATER BECAME ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL BLACK ATTORNEY IN CHICAGO : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK HEROES "

                         BLACK                   SOCIAL                     HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Edward H. Morris c. 1902

Edward Morris, born a slave in Kentucky, in 1859, later became one of most successful black attorneys in Chicago. He was only the fifth black to pass the Illinois bar. Morris became good friends with Clarence Darrow and worked with Darrow to defend Oscar DePriest. Morris was elected to the Illinois General Assembly in 1891 as a Republican. He also served as the attorney for the town of South Chicago in 1892 and 1896, and in 1895 served as an assistant attorney for Cook County. Morris helped several young black lawyers and law students including Fredrick L. McGhee, who in 1885 went into practice with Morris, who by that time was referred to as Chicago's "dean of colored lawyers." McGee later moved to St. Paul, Minnesota and became the first black lawyer admitted to the bar in Minnesota. McGee went on to become an important civil rights advocate.

The G.U.O.O.F. under Morris's name refers to the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, a fraternal organization founded in 1843 for black members with a charter from the Grand Lodge in Manchester, England. Photo from: The Official History and Manual of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America: A Chronological Treatise ... by Charles H Brooks (1902).