Black History Month award named after Justice Thompson at Appellate Division ceremony
The Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department, held a Black History Month ceremony on Wednesday that also served as another memorial for the late Justice William C. Thompson, a pioneer politician and judge who fought in the segregated “Buffalo Soldiers” unit during WWII.
Thompson earned a Purple Heart for his time in the Buffalo Soldiers unit. After he returned home, he became a local politician — first as Brooklyn’s first black state senator and then as a member of City Council.
Thompson eventually gave up politics to become a judge. He was the first black administrative judge in the Brooklyn Supreme Court and then the first black judge to sit on the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department.