Macon Bolling Allen (1816-1894) is thought to have been born around 1816 in Indiana and later moved to Maine.
In Maine, Allen served as a law apprentice to a prominent attorney with anti-slavery views who advocated for Allen’s admission to the Maine bar. His admission was denied based on the grounds he was not a legal “citizen” at all because he was black. But in 1844, Allen passed the examination for nonresidents and became the first licensed African-American lawyer in the United States.
It was the start of many firsts as an African American in the U.S.: first practicing lawyer in Massachusetts (1845), first justice of the peace (1848) and first all-African American law firm with William Whipper and Robert Elliott in South Carolina (1868).
He experienced difficulty finding legal work in Maine because white people were unwilling to hire a black attorney, and few black people lived there. He moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and passed the exam in 1845.
To supplement his career as an attorney, Allen became a justice of the peace in Massachusetts, making him the first African-American judicial official; despite not being a U.S. citizen under the Constitution.
He moved to Charleston, South Carolina, after the American Civil War to practice law, served on the Inferior Court of Charleston, and was elected to be a judge in the probate court of Charleston in 1874.
Following the Reconstruction Era, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked as an attorney for the Land and Improvement Association. He continued to practice law until his death at age 78; Macon Allen died on June 11, 1894.
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