This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in New Mexico. It includes the year in which the men were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are men who achieved other distinctions such becoming the first in their state to graduate from law school or become a political figure.
Firsts in New Mexico's history
Lawyers First African American male: Fred Simms (c. 1880s) First African American male to practice before the New Mexico Supreme Court: George W. Malone (1914) First Navajo male: Thomas Dodge (1924) First Mexican American males: Dennis Chávez (1920) and Antonio Barreiro (c. 1932) respectively First blind male: Albert T. Gonzales (1935) First African American male to pass the New Mexico State Bar: Reginald H. Alleyne, Jr. in 1965
State judges First Hispanic male (New Mexico Territorial Supreme Court): Antonio Jose Otero around 1846: First Hispanic male (Supreme Court of New Mexico): Eugene D. Lujan in 1945 First Hispanic male (Chief Justice; Supreme Court of New Mexico): Eugene D. Lujan in 1951 First African American male: Tommy Jewell (1979) in 1984 First African American male (district court): Tommy Jewell (1979) in 1991Upon Jewell’s appointment as a Judge of the Second Judicial District Court of New Mexico in 1991
Federal judges First Hispanic American male (U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico): Santiago E. Campos (1953) in 1978 First Hispanic American male (Chief Judge; U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico): Santiago E. Campos (1953) in 1987
Attorney General First Hispanic male (New Mexico Territory): Miguel Antonio Otero (1851) from 1854 to 1856 First Hispanic male (Attorney General of New Mexico): Miguel A. Otero III from 1929 to 1930 First Native American male (Cherokee Nation): Hal Stratton in 1986
District Attorney
First African American male: Gerald Byers in 2020
Political office First Mexican American male (U.S. Senator): Octaviano Ambrosio Larrazolo (1888) in 1928 First New Mexico-born Latino male (U.S. Senator): Dennis Chávez in 1935 First openly gay male (New Mexico Legislature): Jacob Candelaria in 2013
State Bar of New Mexico First Hispanic American male president: Arturo Jaramillo in 1994 First African American male commissioner: Ray Hamilton from 1994 to 1999
Firsts in local history
Robert Jones: First African American male lawyer in Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, New Mexico John EchoHawk: First Native American male (Pawnee) lawyer to graduate from the Indian law program at the University of New Mexico [Bernalillo County, New Mexico] Santiago Juarez: First Hispanic American male lawyer in Roswell [Chaves County, New Mexico] Gerald Byers: First African American male to serve as the District Attorney for the Third Judicial District (2020; Doña Ana County, New Mexico)
See also List of first minority male lawyers and judges in the United States List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States List of first women lawyers and judges in New Mexico
References