BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – As Black History Month kicks off, one Bexar County judge is honoring the few black judges who came before her in a special meet and greet event.
Judge Yolanda Huff presides over County Court 12 and the Mental Health Court.
She said being a lawyer has always been a dream for her.
“I grew up in North Carolina,” she said. “My day was in the military, but my mom was from Texas. Ever since I was 11 years old, I wanted to be a lawyer. I didn’t really know what a lawyer did, but I knew they helped people. That desire stayed with me through high school.”
Huff said that after graduating from St. Mary’s University, she held her private practice for 22 years before running for a judge and winning in 2018.
She credits her successful career to black judges who came before her in the Judicial system. Those judges had to endure racism, discrimination, and prejudice to even be seen as a consideration to hold the bench.
“All the way back to 1919, when the first black person was licensed to practice in the state of Texas, they were here in San Antonio,” she said. “He couldn’t even find a place to open an office to put his little sign-out. Nobody would rent a room to him to practice.”
She added black lawyers were restricted from joining the San Antonio Bar Association.
“Judge Hattie Briscoe is a great example,” she said. “No firm would hire her even though she graduated number one in her class in 1957. That was the reason why the San Antonio Black Lawyers Association was established.”
Huff said her most significant mandate is to educate about the judicial history of Bexar County and San Antonio, which is why, for years, she’s always wanted to host an event that would pay homage to the very few black judges who overcame several obstacles in the past to be who they are today.
“There are only 30 black judges of all the hundreds of judges that have been on the bench in Bexar County and San Antonio,” Huff said. “Up until I won my seat in 2018, there has never been more than one black judge in any given time to preside, which is why it was really historic when Judge Grace Uzomba, Judge Stephanie Boyd, and myself won at one time.”
Community members will have a chance to meet and hear the history of all 30 black judges during a special meet-and-greet event on Feb. 1 at the Witte Museum from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
“I wanted the community to know that there is a small history of black judges, but there is history to be told,” Huff said. “I am a mother of three, so I am all about educating the next generation. I want all the young people to come out. Youth groups, clubs, all of them. Let them come and see. I truly do stand on the shoulders of giants. That lineage goes all the way to the turn of the century to here and now I am talking to you as Judge Huff. People always say knowledge is power ... I say, knowledge is freedom.”
