Jenkins, Howard, 1915-2003

Howard Jenkins, Jr. was born June 16, 1915 in Denver, Colorado, the third child of Howard and Nellie Jenkins. He graduated from the University of Denver in 1946 and from the University's College of Law in 1941. Although he was not the first African-American to practice law in Colorado, he was the first African-American to pass the Colorado Bar Exam. He married Alice Elaine Brown in 1940, the daughter of a prominent African-American minister. She graduated from the University of Denver in 1937 and was the first African-American to teach in the Denver Public schools.

Jenkins became interested in law when he went with his best friend to watch his friend's father, Sam Cary, try court cases. Sam Cary was one of the first African-American lawyers in Denver. Jenkins practiced law in Denver until 1946 when he became a law professor at Howard University Law School. As a law professor he helped prepare briefs for the Supreme Court to desegregate the railroads and the public schools, including the landmark case of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education. In 1956, Jenkins became the Special Assistant to the Solicitor of Labor. While Special Assistant, he was intimately involved in drafting and passing the "Landrum-Griffin" labor reform act, known as the "employees' bill of rights." In 1949, Jenkins was named Director of the Office of Regulations at the Bureau of Labor-Management Reports. In 1962, he was named Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau and became the highest ranking African-American attorney in the federal government. In 1963, Jenkins became the first African-American to be appointed to the National Labor Relations Board when nominated by President Kennedy. Jenkins was reappointed by three subsequent presidents and served on the NLRB for 20 years.

Howard Jenkins, Jr. had a substantial impact on labor law during his years of service. His mission was "to help them discover blacks in the industrial work force, and to get it firmly fixed in our national labor policy that discrimination on the basis of race or sex is an unfair labor practice." He wrote the majority opinion in the 1964 watershed case Hughes Tool Co. II, which created unions' duty of fair representation. He also wrote a dissent, affirmed by the courts, holding that it was illegal sex discrimination for unions to have a waiters' union and a separate waitresses' union.

Visit the University of Denver College of Law's online exhibit about Jenkins' life and work to learn more about this DU alumnus.