James B. Whitfield
James B. Whitfield | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 17th Attorney General of Florida | |
| In office 1903–1904 | |
| Governor | William Sherman Jennings |
| Preceded by | William B. Lamar |
| Succeeded by | W.H. Ellis |
| 11th State Treasurer of Florida | |
| In office June 19, 1897 – March 1, 1903 | |
| Preceded by | Clarence B. Collins |
| Succeeded by | William V. Knott |
| Personal details | |
| Born | James Bryan Whitfield November 8, 1860 Wayne County, North Carolina |
| Died | August 20, 1948 (aged 87) Tallahassee, Florida |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater | University of Virginia |
James Bryan Whitfield (November 8, 1860 – August 20, 1948) was a Florida lawyer. He served as the 11th State Treasurer of Florida (1897–1903), 17th Attorney General of Florida (1903–1904), and long-time Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida.
Background
Whitfield was born on the family plantation in Wayne County, North Carolina.[1] Whitfield's father Richard A. Whitfield moved the family to Leon County, Florida around 1860[2] to start a cotton plantation and became an elected county judge there.[3]
The family later moved to Tallahassee. Whitfield was educated at the West Florida Seminary in Tallahassee and the University of Virginia (bachelor of law, 1886). After service as a county judge and the clerk of the Florida Supreme Court, Whitfield was appointed state treasurer in 1897, serving until 1903.[4][5] Whitfield served as Florida's Attorney General 1903-4[6] before being appointed to the Florida Supreme Court, where he served until resigning in 1943. One of his most significant decisions was a 1908 opinion that prohibited excluding African-Americans from juries.[7]
Whitfield also wrote a Political and Legal History of Florida, published in 1943.[8]
Legacy
Whitfield died in Tallahassee, Florida, aged 87. There is a scholarship in Constitutional Law at the University of Florida named in his honor.[9]
Family
Whitfield's grandson Randolph Whitfield, Jr is an ophthalmologist known for his pioneering work tracking blindness in Africa. His granddaughter Clare Whitfield was formerly married to astronaut Rusty Schweickart.[10]
References
- ^ http://www.fivay.org/hendley.html History of Pasco County
- ^ http://genealogytrails.com/fla/leon/plantations_1860.html Leon County plantations, 1860
- ^ http://fulltext.fcla.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?idno=SF00000009_0001_000;q1=SF00000009;seq=766;cc=fhp;view=image;size=s;start=1;c=fhp Richard Whitfield bio
- ^ http://www.museumoffloridahistory.com/about/sites/knott/about.cfm bio of William Knott
- ^ http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/barm/rediscovery/default.asp?IDCFile=/fsa/detailss.idc,SPECIFIC=2603,DATABASE=SERIES, Bio of Whitfield
- ^ http://www.floridamemory.com/Collections/governors/attorney-general.cfm#Whitfield Florida Memory page on Whitfield
- ^ http://www.flcourts.org/gen_public/jury/lawday_pressrelease.shtml Florida Court Law Day press release
- ^ http://www.floridamemory.com/Collections/governors/treasurer.cfm Florida Memory page
- ^ http://www.uff.ufl.edu/scholarships/ScholarshipInfo.asp?ScholarshipFund=001787 Judge James Bryan Whitfield Scholarship
- ^ http://alt.gtalumni.org/StayInformed/techtopics/sum95/whit.html Randolph Whitfield bio