Cook County Bar Association

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The Cook County Bar Association (CCBA), the nation's oldest association of African-American lawyers and judges, was founded in Illinois in 1914. Arkansas attorney Lloyd G. Wheeler,^[1] moved to Illinois in 1869 to practice law and he, along with 31 other Black lawyers, began to meet informally to plan protests against discrimination in hotels, theaters, and restaurants, and to address judicial elections and school desegregation. Among the group of Black lawyers was Ida Platt,^[2] the first Black woman admitted to practice in the State of Illinois, and the third Black woman lawyer in the nation.^{[citation needed]} This informal collaboration lasted until 1914, when a younger generation of lawyers decided to form the Cook County Bar Association. Edward H. Wright was elected the first CCBA president. On March 5, 1920, the CCBA was formally incorporated by the State of Illinois.

In 1925, CCBA members C. Francis Stradford, Wendell E. Green, and Jesse N. Baker were among the founders of the National Bar Association (NBA).^[3]

The CCBA engaged in a variety of legal programs to advance the legal profession and its members and developed an organized system for the fair and impartial evaluations of judicial candidates which led to the joint alliance with other minority bar associations.