DALLAS MOURNS THE GREAT JUDGE LOUIS A. BEDFORD, JR.
Legal legend and beloved community icon Louis A. Bedford, Jr. lost his battle with cancer on Thursday, April 10, 2014. He was 88.
The Honorable Louis A. Bedford, Jr. practiced law in Dallas for over 60 years and in 1966 became the first African-American judge in the history of Dallas County. Judge Bedford was a champion for civil rights, ensuring justice and equality in the legal system, and in the community.
Born in Dallas on January 23, 1926, Judge Bedford graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1942 and entered Prairie View College, now Prairie View A & M University, at age 16. Upon graduating from Prairie View in 1946, Judge Bedford was forced to leave the state of Texas to pursue a law degree because Texas did not offer graduate school admission for Minorities, nor was there a law school in Texas established specifically for Minorities to attend. Armed with courage and a dream, Judge Bedford headed to Brooklyn School of Law, where he earned his law degree in 1951.
Eager to redress the racial discrimination prominent in the Dallas county justice system, Judge Bedford returned to Dallas almost immediately thereafter, opening his law office at his home. In 1952, Judge Bedford started the Barrister’s Club, the precursor to the J.L. Turner Legal Association – Dallas’s African American Bar Association.
In 1966, Judge Bedford was appointed as an associate municipal judge, making him the first African-American judge in Dallas County. Thereafter, in 1968, Judge Bedford became the fourth African-American lawyer to join the Dallas Bar Association, and was unanimously elected to the Dallas Bar Association’s Board of Directors in 1984.
Judge Bedford resigned from the bench in 1980 to run for a city council seat, but redistricting thwarted his opportunity for success. Judge Bedford spent the next 30 years focusing on his law practice and serving as a mentor for nearly every African-American attorney in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He was an active member of the Dallas Bar and the J.L. Turner Legal Association, in which he served as Historian until the time of his death.
Judge Bedford’s legacy of activism and courage inspired the 2009 book by Southern Methodist University Professor Darwin Payne, entitled the “Quest for Justice: Louis A. Bedford, Jr. and the Struggle for Equal Rights in Dallas.” Quest for Justice adds clarity to the history of the ongoing struggle for equal rights in Dallas and Texas; and provides a fascinating look inside the city’s Black middle class and legal community at a time when the Blacks were barred, legally or through majority resistance, from many facilities and activities.
Judge Bedford is survived by his son Louis III, and daughters Diane and Angela. His wife of 51 years, Velma Ruth Bates, predeceased him in 2010. Funeral services for Judge Bedford was held on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. at New Hope Baptist Church, where he was a long time member.
