Meet Judge Brown

Daisy Lampkin’s legacy runs deep throughout Pittsburgh’s civil rights history. One long-term Pittsburgh-ally of Daisy Lampkin was the legendary Homer S. Brown (right). Brown was the founder and first president of the Pittsburgh-branch of the NAACP, an organization with which Lampkin was deeply connected. Brown served with Lampkin on any number of boards and committees and shared daises with her for decades, galvanizing black Pittsburgh’s political power and building community institutions.

In the mid-1930s Brown was elected to the PA state legislature to represent the Hill district, carving out a reputation as a champion of fair housing and employment legislation. Since at least the 1920s, Lampkin and her political associates determined to exercise their newly won electoral muscle by demanding greater black patronage in exchange for their political support, a demand that went largely unheeded until Brown became Pittsburgh’s first black judge in 1950.

Brown’s son, Byrd, followed in his father’s footsteps leading Pittsburgh’s NAACP chapter himself, organizing and mobilizing for peace and civil rights, and running for mayor of Pittsburgh in 1989.  

​More photos after the jump:

Judge Brown with his wife, Wilhelmina, and son, Byrd.

Homer's son Byrd enjoyed a storied civil rights career in his own right, including running for mayor of Pittsburgh in 1989.

Judge Brown, in white tux, was on hand at a gala dinner honoring Daisy Lampkin in 1957. To Brown's immediate right is Roy Wilkins, head of the NAACP, and Jesse Vann, publisher of the Pittsburgh Courier. Pittsburgh Mayor David Lawrence and Thurgood Marshall were also guests of honor.