The American jurist Hugo Lafayette Black (1886-1971) was President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court. Associate Justice Black was an ardent New Dealer and led the liberal and activist wing of the Court for more than 32 years.

The youngest in a family of eight, Hugo Black was born on a farm in the rural area of Clay County, Ala., on Feb. 27, 1886. The family, well off by rural standards, moved to Ashland, the county seat, so that the children would have better educational opportunities. Hugo attended Ashland College. Interested in law, at the age of 18 he enrolled in the University of Alabama Law School at Tuscaloosa. After 2 years he received his law degree and passed the bar examinations.

After a year of practice in Ashland, Black moved his office to Birmingham. In 1917 he became county prosecuting attorney. When the United States entered World War...