D. Augustus Straker

01 / The Detroit story

The Detroit story

David Augustus Straker was born in Bridgetown, Barbados, in 1842 and came to the United States after the Civil War to teach formerly enslaved people in Louisville, Kentucky. He married in Detroit in 1871, studied law at Howard University and went on to South Carolina, where he won election to the legislature but was repeatedly denied his seat, and taught law. In 1885 he visited Detroit and later settled in the city, where he built a law practice and became the first Black lawyer to appear before the Michigan Supreme Court. In 1890 he won Ferguson v. Gies, in which the court ruled that a Detroit restaurant could not seat a Black customer separately, a landmark for equal accommodation under Michigan law. He was also elected a Wayne County circuit court commissioner, one of the first Black officials in the county and in 1900 was one of 56 prominent Detroiters asked to write a letter for the Detroit Century Box time capsule. He died in 1908.

Highlights

1. First Black lawyer to argue before the Michigan Supreme Court
2. Won Ferguson v. Gies (1890) against restaurant segregation in Detroit
3. Wrote a letter for the Detroit Century Box time capsule in 1900
4. Elected but denied his seat in the South Carolina legislature