In celebration of Black History Month, The Jacksonville Bar Association lunch meeting Tuesday featured a viewing of the documentary “Conversations on Catfish, Courtrooms, and Change: The Life and Times of Henry Lee Adams, Jr.” The film detailed the creation of what is believed to be the first integrated law firm in Florida – Sheppard, Fletcher, Hand & Adams. It has been entered in the Amelia Island Film Festival Thursday-Sunday. Pictured from left, William Sheppard, Jack Hand, Senior U.S. District Judge Henry Lee Adams, Lyman Fletcher and Circuit Judge Hugh Carithers, who was a partner in the firm. Adams was the first African-American judge in the Fourth Circuit, the first African-American U.S. District judge in the Middle District of Florida, appointed in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, and the first African-American Senior U.S. District judge in the state.
Source: Daily Record