Boce W. BarlowRetired
Hartford lawyer Boce W. Barlow has twice made Connecticut
history: By being the first black
judge in
the state and the first black to serve in the state Senate. But
in an interview several
years ago in The Hartford Courant, he said he didn't
like to call attention to
these historic milestones. "I don't say I'm the first black
to serve as a judge," he said. "I'm a judge, and
they can look at me and tell I'm black."
In 1987 a street in Hartford, a street connecting Weston and Windsor streets in the city's North Meadows, was named after him a long overdue honor, many said at the time. Paul Lewis, Barlow's former law partner said, "I'm told that Boce's hometown is Americus, Georgia, they have a Barlow Cemetery, a Barlow project. It's about time they have a Barlow Way here in Hartford." |
|
Barlow
has long
been a fixture in Hartford Democratic
politics, and is thought to be a political godfather
of a long line of
blacks in politics. He was a prosecutor in the
old Hartford Police Court in 1957 when Governor Abraham Ribicoff
appointed him a judge. Two years later
he resigned, citing the pressures of his one-man law office. In 1966,
he
defeated Senator Samuel Lebon, the
party-endorsed favorite, in the 2nd Senate District. The way Barlow
won being
forced to challenge and defeat the party organization - has characterized the
development of black political
power across the country since.
In 1970, another up-and-coming black politician - Wilber G.
Smith - defeated
Barlow in a party primary.
Barlow graduated from Hartford Public High School in 1933 and went on to attend Howard University and Harvard Law School. He also served three years in the U.S. Army as a sergeant in the South Pacific. In an interview in February 1995, Barlow recalled buying his house on Canterbury Street, a house that has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places, thanks to his accomplishments. At the time he bought the house, there was only one black teacher in the Hartford public schools and the only black employee at city hall was the elevator operator, Barlow said. He had heard about the single-family house in a quiet neighborhood near Keney Park. Not wanting to attract attention in an all-white neighborhood, he drove by for a glimpse. "I wasn't impressed by the color. It was a drab gray." When the real estate agent heard a black family was interested in the house, he dropped the listing, Barlow said. This perplexed the house's owner, whom Barlow credits with being open-minded. She invited him to look at the house and Barlow pronounced it sturdy, with a beautiful yard. He offered to buy it. "It wasn't a warm reception," he said. Many of the Irish, Polish and Jewish neighbors ignored the Barlows when they moved in . "I knew what to expect. We just paid no mind." Barlow's career as a lawyer, prosecutor and judge eventually earned his neighbors' respect. His children also helped bring the neighbors together. Barlow returned home many nights after practicing law to find groups of children playing in the spacious back yard. He credits the children with doing more than making friends. They were breaking down barriers. "The key to so many things is children," he said. |
©1999 The Hartford Courant
If anyone knows of Barlow's family, I'd love to post them. Susan
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: February 6, 2005
HARTFORD, Feb. 5 (AP) - Boce W. Barlow Jr., who became Connecticut's first black judge in 1957 and its first black state senator nine years later, died on Monday in Maryland. He was 89.
His death was announced by his family.
Mr. Barlow was born in Americus, Ga., in 1915, but his family soon moved to Hartford, where he graduated from Hartford Public High School in 1933. He went on to graduate cum laude in 1939 from Howard University, where he was senior class president.
He served in a segregated unit in the Army in the southeast Pacific from 1943 to 1946, and made his way to Harvard Law School, where he received a degree in 1949.
He was 42 when he became a judge in 1957. He was elected to the State Senate in 1966, and two years later was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Mr. Barlow retired from his law practice in 1981 after a surgical error left him partly paralyzed.
His daughter, Cathy, said that he stayed active in politics during his retirement and that he and her mother, Catherine, had moved to Maryland a few years ago to be closer to relatives.
Articles contributed by John F. Barlow