McCants Stewart (11-7-1877-April 14,1919)

He was born in Brooklyn New York,the son of T. McCants (a respected nomadic African-American southern leader) and Lottie P. (Harris) Stewart.McCants received his early education in the public schools of Brooklyn,and the Claflin University,SC.After a number of run-ins with then president Booker T.Washington,he graduated from Tuskegee Institute in Alabama Normal Department in 1896.That same year,he entered the University of New York,taking special work.In addition,in 1896,he attended the University of New York law school.McCants began working in his father's law practice only to find that the senior McCants' methods were as strict as those of Booker T.Washington's.Growing tired of these confining arrangements,he left New York to enroll in the University of Minnesota Law School.He never revealed his reasons for choosing a northern school or a state with a small African-American population.Yet,maturity and a sense of purpose characterized his brief in Minneapolis he a model graduate student,excelling academically and writing for the school paper.He was an active member of the Kent Literary Society.McCants graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1899,receiving his master's degree.He was the first African-American at the University of Minnesota to achieve that distinction and was admitted to the bar in St.Paul soon after.The Twin cities possessed a small African-American professional leadership community when McCants arrive and through he was registered to and expressed interest in opening a practice,he never succeeded in challenging the established African-American professional class.He moved to the Dakotas where he entered the dairy business and prepared to practice law.This moved did little to advance his legal career and he moved to Portland Orgeon,in 1902.McCants was admitted to the bar of Orgeon in 1903,become that state first African-American lawyer.He started active practice of his profession in Portland that same year.McCants married Mary D.Weir of Minneapolis on August 22,1905.The highlight of his rather uneventful career being a civil rights case,Taylor v.Cohn,which he argued successfully in 1906.He was a Republican but his political connections did litlle for his aspirations besides allowing his appointment to notary public.In 1914 he ran for public defender and lost.McCants had freak accident while running to to board a streetcar,which required his leg to be amputed.Shortyly after this,his vision gave him trouble and his practice declined.In 1917,he and his family moved to San Francisco only to find African-American life and times equally as hard.He and another attorney Oscar Hudson began a law practice,yet times were difficult and McCants never saw the postive aspects in his future.Despite his partners assurance McCants patience waned by 1919.In a fit of resignation and total despair.McCants commited suicide on April 14,leaving behind his family and a number of debts.