Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum issued the following announcement on Feb 19.
James Bernard Sanderlin (January 2, 1929 – April 22, 1990) was a lawyer who, during the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, used litigation to fight for equality and against discrimination in Pinellas County, Florida. During this time Sanderlin was one of only five African American attorneys who practiced in racially divided St. Petersburg, Florida. Sanderlin devoted his career to unifying blacks and whites in his community in an effort to move toward social and legal equality.
While living in Boston, Massachusetts, in the late 1950s, Sanderlin felt compelled to move to the South to try to make a difference for minorities there. All of his life he had lived peacefully alongside whites, so it was not hard for him to envision an American society where the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision was implemented and equality was practiced and not just talked about.
As an attorney, he argued cases for school desegregation, against employment and housing discrimination, and other related civil rights cases. In 1972, Sanderlin became the first black judge of Pinellas County. By 1976, his skill and reputation afforded him a seat on the circuit-level court where he presided for over ten years. In 1985, then Governor Bob Graham appointed him to the Florida District Court of Appeals.
He served on the court for two years, until he was forced to step down from the bench due to an illness.after developing Pick’s disease, a rare neurodegenerative disorder related to Alzheimer's disease. Three years after he stepped down from the bench, Sanderlin died from natural causes at the age of 61. Through his diligent work during the Civil Rights Movement, Sanderlin convinced many people that "important differences can be resolved through reasonable argument and law".
Original source can be found here.
Source: Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum
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