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OJC Poster: Jurors of Color

An online text version of the Jurors of Color poster

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Did you know... Jury Service in the Commonwealth: An Ongoing Series

Jurors of Color: Massachusetts was first in the nation

  • The first people of color to sit on a jury in The United States were two barbers from Worcester. They served in 1860.
  • Francis Clough was born in Worcester. William Jenkins had escaped slavery in Virginia and lived in Worcester.
  • Slavery had been abolished in The Commonwealth in 1783.
  • Judge George Lewis Ruffin of Boston was the first black judge in America (appointed 1883).
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