A Coloured Man Born in this city who rose to Great Heights.

The following was taken from the Milwaukee Journal of Tuesday July the 14th under the heading "Glimpses of an Earlier Milwaukee will be interesting to the Older residents of the city.

The first colored man to be graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School was William T. Green, a former waiter at the old Plankinton House.

Green, a native of Chatham, Ont. was graduated from McGill University, Montreal and found employment as a waiter in Buffalo and Cleveland before coming to this city. He was encouraged by the late J.J. Miles, head waiter at the Plankinton, to accept a job as messenger to the Dean of the Law School W.D. Hoard who, was governor of Wisconsin at that time.

Students and Professors aroused Green's desire to study and he so matriculated. However, graduation found him without money to obtain a law library and set up an office, so he again sought employment at the Plankinton Hotel. Finally a few friends came to his rescue and opened an office for him in the old Birchard block.

Green's admittance to practise in the local courts was something of a novelty, because he was the first of his race to esse the role of lawyer. Much to the shame of the Milwaukee bar he was not favorably received. Many attorneys openly snubbed him.

The hostile attitude of his fellow lawyers brought Green to the brink of despair. At that point he received an offer, which he accepted, to become a salaried law clerk in a neighboring office which would enable him to look after his own clientele when necessary. The offer came from James H. Stover, who became the subject of jests and slurs for having a colored man appear in court for him.

Green eventually won the respect of the Bar and Bench and developed into one of the ablest lawyers in the city. At the time of his death he was sincerely appreciated and never forgot the kindness of good old Jim Stover nor have the older colored citizens of Milwaukee.

Source:
Annie Green to Henry George Walker
C.T.P. Dec. 24, 1875