"Earl Burrus Dickerson"{June 22,1891-September1,1986}

He was born in Canton,Mississippi,the son of Edward & Emma Garrett Dickerson.his maternal granddaddy,Benjamin Franklin Garrett was born a slave and,before the Civil War ended,purchased himself and his wife Eliza Montgomery,out of slavery.Early's daddy died in 1896 and Earl was raised by his mama,and his grandma,Eliza,and a half-sister from his daddy's frirst marriage Gertrude.
He first moved to Chicago in 1907 and spent most of the next ten years there,graduating from a University of Chicago-sponsored prep school in 1909.He married Inez Moss in 1912.(a marriage which ended in divorce in 1927) and earned a B.A. from the University of Illinois in 1914.During his time spent studying at the University of Illinois,Earl helped establish the Beta Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.
Earl legal studies were interrupted by World War 1 when he enlisted in the U.S.Army.Earl became a lieutenant and serve in the American Expeditionary Forces in France.After the conclusion of the war,Earl became a founding member of the American Legion and personally organized the George L.Giles post 87 in Chicago.Returning to the University of Chicago,Earl completed his legal studies in 1920,becoming the first African American to earn a doctorate of law degree there.
In 1921,he excepted a position as general counsel of the newly formed Supreme Life Insurance Company,which later became the largest African American owned Insurance Company in the North.This was not his first association with the company.I919,while still a law student,he had helped draft the company's articles of incorporation.While working for Supreme Life,Earl also started a law firm with fellow law school graduate Wendell E.Green,who later became a Circuit Court Judge.At the same time,he began to take an active role in politics and civil rights.In 1927,Earlwas instrumental in establishing Burr Oak Cemetery,one of the few African American cemeteries in Southwestern Cook County.Later during the Great Depression.Earl helped persuade Supreme Life to step in and save the cemetery after Burr Oak defaulted on its mortgage.On June 15,1930 he married Kathryn Kennedy Wilson.In 1939,he became the first African American Democrat to serve on the Chicago City Council.The following year he successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark Hansberry v.Lee case,which addressed the issue of restrictive covenants.It involved the Chicago home purchased by real estate broker Carl Augustus Hansberry,daddy of playwright  Lorraine Hansberry,with money borrowed from the Supreme Life Insurance Company.In 1952,Earl became president of Supreme Life Insurance Company.Other positions Earl held during his lifetime include head of the National Bar Association,board member of the national NAACP,grand polemarch of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity,president of the Chicago Urban League,and president of the National Lawyers Guild.When Earl was elected president of the National Lawyers Guild from 1951-54,he became the first African American president of an integrated Bar association.