Person

W. Norman Bishop

Attended Yale Law School, 1912-1915

W. Norman Bishop -

Biography

William Norman Bishop was born in 1890 in Baltimore, Maryland, to John A. Bishop, a shoemaker, and Kate L. Thomas Bishop.1 He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Lincoln University in 1912 and went on to Yale Law School.2 He attended Yale until 1915 and was a member of the Zeta Chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. In 1916, Bishop passed the state bar examination in Maryland.3 At the time of his 1917 draft registration, he reported he was a “lawyer in Baltimore” and “taking law examinations in Yale Law School.” He was drafted into the military during WWI and served for one year.

In 1921, Bishop married Cornelia L. Wilson, a teacher at the Colored High School in Baltimore, in New York City.4 According to a notice in the Baltimore Afro-American (February 20, 1926), it appears they divorced in 1926.5 Bishop continued to practice law in Baltimore for decades where he was also elected to the bar association.6 In 1920, his law firm represented The Observer in a libel suit where the plaintiff was represented by W. Ashbie Hawkins and George W. F. McMechen, the latter graduating from Yale Law School in 1895.7 In that same year, Bishop and other Republican African-Americans nominated W. Ashbie Hawkins to run for Senate.8

Bishop remained an active member within the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. In May 1919, according to Delta Lambda’s history, William Norman Bishop was one of the founding members of the graduate chapter of Delta Lambda in Baltimore, Maryland.9 According to a 1921 article in The Sphinx, he was a secretariat member relaying information to Alpha Phi Alpha on the actions of the chapter.10 In 1932, he was elected as vice president of the Delta Lambda Chapter.11

According to the 1940 U.S. Census, Bishop was married to Ruth J. and had a son, William Franklin, who was 10 years old.12 According to The Sun, William Franklin died in 1941 at the age of 11.13 At the time of his 1942 draft registration, Bishop reported that he was self-employed. Bishop died in 1973 and is buried at the Baltimore National Cemetery.

  1. "United States, Census, 1900", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3KF-HTH : Wed Jan 22 05:39:40 UTC 2025), Entry for John A Bishop and Kate L Bishop, 1900. ↩

  2. Catalogue of Lincoln University: Fifty-Eight Year, 1912-1913. Philadelphia, PA: Press of Ferris & Leach, 1913. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112111998222&seq=181&q1=William+Norman+Bishop. ↩

  3. “Passed State Bar,” The Sun, December 28, 1916, https://www.proquest.com/docview/542061740/fulltextPDF/742E52A8C82B4418PQ/1?accountid=15172&sourcetype=Historical%20Newspapers. ↩

  4. “Norman Bishop Weds,” The Afro-American, March 25, 1921, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/1041389696/?match=1&terms=%22Cornelia%20L.%20Wilson%22&pqsid=L38XOwqAYHsxpa_dP0XtSA%3A16641%3A318426046. ↩

  5. “Divorces Instituted,” Afro-American, February 20, 1926, https://www.proquest.com/docview/530635742/fulltextPDF/5B54CAC2CC4B4826PQ/4?accountid=15172&sourcetype=Historical%20Newspapers. ↩

  6. “Bar Association Elects Officers,” The Afro-American, March 7, 1925, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/1041080146/?match=1&terms=%22W.%20Norman%20Bishop%22&pqsid=fL4UTTtZqVhalOPAEKm5sg%3A896733%3A93285852. ↩

  7. “Observer Sued for $10,000,” The New York Age, June 19, 1920, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/33454912/?match=1&terms=%22W.%20Norman%20Bishop%22&pqsid=fL4UTTtZqVhalOPAEKm5sg%3A896733%3A93285852. ↩

  8. “Reflection Upon Honest People,” The Afro-American, October 1, 1920. https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/1041388265/?match=1&terms=%22W.%20Norman%20Bishop%22&pqsid=fL4UTTtZqVhalOPAEKm5sg%3A896733%3A93285852. ↩

  9. https://www.deltalambda.org/history-of-delta-lambda-chapter/. ↩

  10. “Delta Lambda Chapter,” The Sphinx 7, no. 1 (1921), https://issuu.com/apa1906network/docs/192100701. ↩

  11. “Delta Lambda Says Keep An Eye On Her,” The Sphinx 18, no. 2 (1932), https://issuu.com/apa1906network/docs/193201802. ↩

  12. "United States, Census, 1940", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K7X7-PCQ : Thu Jan 16 16:31:15 UTC 2025), Entry for Norman W Bishop and Ruth J Bishop, 1940. ↩

  13. “Deaths,” The Sun, September 5, 1941, https://www.proquest.com/docview/538893094/fulltextPDF/3C99C29BA3804BF4PQ/15?accountid=15172&sourcetype=Historical%20Newspapers. ↩

Full Name

W. Norman Bishop

Family Name

Bishop

Yale Affiliation

Attended Yale Law School, 1912-1915

Birth Date

1890

Birth Place

Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Educated At

Yale Law School
Lincoln University

Places Lived

Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Death Date

1973

Gender

male

Decade(s) at Yale

1910s
Media
W. Norman Bishop - W. Norman Bishop -