By Don Valentine
This is a new segment the Westside Gazette will feature thru the end of February. That is the conclusion of Black History Month. Hopefully it will educate or jog your memory on the legacy of our Black pioneers!
Daniel Webster Perkins esq.
Mr. Perkins was one of Florida’s first African American lawyers, having been officially admitted to the Florida Bar in 1914.
Mr. Perkins was born on January 9, 1879 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. He earned degrees from North Carolina State Normal College in 1897, Temple University in 1899 and Shaw University Law School in 1902. After practicing law in Knoxville, Tennessee and Tampa, Florida, he settled in Jacksonville in 1919, where he practiced until his death in 1972.
During his illustrious career, Attorney Perkins held positions of trust or authority in a host of professional, educational, civic and political organizations, including Masons, Knights of Pythias, Elks, Samaritans, Odd Fellows, Eastern Star, Heroines, Masonic Templars, Woodsmen, Bethel Baptist Institutional Church, Business Men’s League, Afro-American Council, Civic League, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, U.S. Military Officers Training School, Florida Normal College, Bethune-Cookman College, Shaw University, NAACP, Urban League, YMCA, Negro Business League, National Bar Association, Colored Lawyers Association and Shriners. He was also State Chairman of the WPA Advisory Educational Council and Secretary of the State NYA Advisory Council.
In 1942, Mr. Perkins wrote an article for The Crisis which was featuring African American life in Jacksonville. With regard to the Black lawyers in Jacksonville, Mr. Perkins wrote, “From earliest times the colored lawyer here was educated, polished, cultured and refined and had enough common sense to obtain and retain the confidence, respect and good will of the Bench, Bar, officers and the public.” He continued, “Graduated in the best law colleges of the country, they easily rank among the best in America whether judged from the standpoint of their winning laurels or accomplishing much to protect the constitutional rights of the Race.” The Crisis, January 1942 Mr. Perkins distinguished himself as a proponent of civil rights, a community leader and a member of the bar who was genuinely interested in the careers of his younger Black colleagues. Accordingly, in 1968, the former Colored Lawyers Association changed its name in honor of D.W. Perkins, who had been a founding members. It is now the D.W. Perkins Lawuers Association!
