Person

Albert Morris Thomas, Jr.

Graduate of Yale Law School, 1884

Albert Morris Thomas, Jr. - *The Buffalo News*, 12 December 1906, page 6.

Biography

Albert Morris Thomas, Jr. was born enslaved in Charleston, Virginia (now West Virginia), to Albert Morris Thomas and an unknown mother in 1853. There are two conflicting accounts surrounding his childhood. In one account, his father, Albert Sr., escaped from slavery in 1853 and moved to Buffalo, New York, later serving in the Civil War in the Union Army.1 Another account claims that both father and son escaped during the Civil War in a skiff heading towards Ohio.2

The pair eventually moved to Raleigh, Tennessee, by 1870 where Albert Sr. married Mary, his third wife. The family served as caterers and event coordinators in the town for members of both the Black and white community.3 Albert Sr. and Mary also ran a hotel called “Uncle Tom and Aunt Mary’s Hotel” and sold spring water.4 According to a news article in the local press, the family received praise from the “Redeemers” in Tennessee for their alignment with the Democrats and were promoted by local white Tennesseans as a model Black family.5

Thomas, Jr. attended Fisk University in Memphis, Tennessee, where he graduated with high honors and was known in Memphis as a talented orator.6 Following his graduation, he became the principal of Memphis High School.7 According to The Daily Memphis Avalanche, Thomas knew French, Spanish, and Latin and was studying under a judge to prepare for the bar before matriculating to Yale Law School in 1883.8 While studying at Yale, Thomas made trips to Buffalo, New York, to investigate an inheritance claim that his father had made.9 He attended Yale Law School for one year and graduated in 1884.10

Following his graduation, Thomas married Amy Henrietta Cassey in 1884 in Craven, North Carolina.11 In that same year, he moved to Buffalo, New York, and became one of the only Black lawyers in the city. Throughout his time in Buffalo, he remained an active member of the Republican Party. In the summer of 1884, he campaigned and made speeches on behalf of the party to encourage Black people to vote in the 1884 elections.12 In 1888, he spoke to a delegation of Black supporters of Benjamin Harrison for the 1888 presidential election.13 Following the Republican victory in 1888, the Buffalo Republican Party offered Thomas as a potential candidate for an ambassadorship to Haiti, expecting him to succeed John Edward West Thompson, another Black alumnus who graduated from Yale Medical School in 1883. However, Frederick Douglass received the appointment.14 Thomas instead became a notary for the city of Buffalo.15 In 1890, he sued a cafe for their refusal to serve him because of his race.16 The story gained traction nationwide, but Thomas later dismissed the suit after receiving an apology from the owner.17

Thomas was elected president of the Colored Men’s Republican League in 1895, 1896, and 1897. However, by 1900, he had become disillusioned with the party. He switched parties and was elected to Buffalo’s Democratic Club where he campaigned for William Jennings Bryan and the Democratic Party in the 1900 elections. In an interview with the Buffalo Courier, he told the newspaper of his regret for supporting the Republican Party following their annexation of the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico after the Spanish-American War.18 In 1901, he was selected to be representative of Black Buffalonians at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. In 1904, out of almost 100 applicants, Albert M. Thomas scored the highest for a senior clerkship job and began his role as an assistant clerk.19 He served for about a year before he tendered his resignation in 1906 to launch a law firm with Junius C. Ayler (who attended Yale Law School between 1898 and 1899) in New York City: Ayler & Thomas.20 However, Thomas shortly died in December of that year in Brooklyn, New York from kidney inflammation.21 He was survived by his wife, two sons, and four daughters; his eldest son was studying at Dartmouth College at the time.22

  1. “A Remarkable Case,” The New York Times, May 31, 1886, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1886/05/31/103115447.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0. ↩

  2. “Educated Negro Stump Speaker,” Auxvasse Review, February 1, 1901, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/1025344177/?match=2&terms=%22Albert%20M.%20Thomas%22%20%22skiff%22&pqsid=ztLoLYTv96nN5nW6K8Mcqg%3A865650%3A993365750. ↩

  3. “Breviters,” Public Ledger, July 27, 1871, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/586930704/?match=1&terms=%22Uncle%20Tom%22%20%22Aunt%20Mary%22&pqsid=sd006tXxfpcPr-Tel2bkOg%3A588779%3A603308813; “The Colored Old Folks Barbecue,” The Daily Memphis Avalanche, August 24, 1873, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/586665411/?match=1&terms=%22Uncle%20Tom%22%20%22Aunt%20Mary%22&pqsid=sd006tXxfpcPr-Tel2bkOg%3A588779%3A603308813. ↩

  4. “Raleigh Mineral Springs Water,” Public Ledger, April 29, 1880. https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/171515384/?match=1&terms=%22Uncle%20Tom%22%20%22Aunt%20Mary%22&pqsid=sd006tXxfpcPr-Tel2bkOg%3A295190%3A485244804. ↩

  5. “Notice To The Public,” Memphis Daily Appeal, August 3, 1870, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/39794695/?match=1&terms=%22Uncle%20Tom%22%20%22Aunt%20Mary%22&pqsid=sd006tXxfpcPr-Tel2bkOg%3A588779%3A603308813. ↩

  6. “Personals,” Memphis Daily Appeal, May 29, 1881, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/168578366/?match=1&terms=%22Albert%20Thomas%22%20%22high%20school%22&pqsid=sd006tXxfpcPr-Tel2bkOg%3A5297551%3A187912452; “A Worthy Young Man,” The Daily Memphis Avalanche, August 22, 1880, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/587075455/?match=1&terms=%22Albert%20Thomas%22%20%22principal%22%20%22school%22%20%22fisk%22&pqsid=sd006tXxfpcPr-Tel2bkOg%3A5394296%3A1426360064. ↩

  7. Biographies of Graduates of the Yale Law School. 1824-1899. (New Haven, CT: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company, 1911), 499, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc1.1002290146&seq=517&q1=%22Albert+Morris+Thomas%22. ↩

  8. “News in Brief,” The Daily Memphis Avalanche, July 12, 1883, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/587461924/?match=1&terms=%22Yale%22%20%22Albert%20Thomas%22&pqsid=sd006tXxfpcPr-Tel2bkOg%3A88668%3A96094588. ↩

  9. “A Plot For A Story,” Buffalo Weekly Express, October 25, 1883, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/494775019/?match=1&terms=%22Albert%20Thomas%22&pqsid=FQKsjGazVEsPFc7p9-MRhA%3A323573%3A1669198608. ↩

  10. Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, 1701-1895 (New Haven: Tuttle Morehouse & Taylor Press, 1895), 175, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112112072555&seq=187&q1=%22Albert+Morris+Thomas%22. ↩

  11. "North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-2011 ", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP9B-1F28 : Sun Mar 10 20:21:37 UTC 2024), Entry for A M Thomas and Amy H Cassey, 4 September 1884. ↩

  12. “Colored Voters Rally,” Buffalo Courier Express, August 5, 1884, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/344756081/?match=1&terms=%22Albert%20M.%20Thomas%22&pqsid=FQKsjGazVEsPFc7p9-MRhA%3A1451938%3A1179706672. ↩

  13. “Republican Gathering,” The Buffalo Courier Express, July 22, 1888, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/345223590/?match=1&terms=%22Albert%20M.%20Thomas%22&pqsid=FQKsjGazVEsPFc7p9-MRhA%3A1451938%3A1179706672. ↩

  14. “Office-Seekers,” The Buffalo Commercial, March 16, 1889, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/1139895629/?match=1&terms=%22Albert%20M.%20Thomas%22&pqsid=FQKsjGazVEsPFc7p9-MRhA%3A1451938%3A1179706672; Buffalo Courier, June 29, 1889, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/354217231/?match=1&terms=%22Albert%20M.%20Thomas%22&pqsid=FQKsjGazVEsPFc7p9-MRhA%3A1451938%3A1179706672. ↩

  15. “Buffalo Notaries,” Buffalo Courier Express, March 3, 1887, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/345095594/?match=1&terms=%22Albert%20M.%20Thomas%22%20%22notary%22&pqsid=FQKsjGazVEsPFc7p9-MRhA%3A2205411%3A2038534163. ↩

  16. “An Interesting Lawsuit,” The Buffalo News, August 25, 1890, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/327151622/?match=1&terms=%22Albert%20M.%20Thomas%22&pqsid=FQKsjGazVEsPFc7p9-MRhA%3A1451938%3A1179706672. ↩

  17. “Everybody Satisfied.” The Buffalo Commercial, June 19, 1891, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/1139773488/?match=1&terms=%22John%20C.%20Streicher%22&pqsid=ThubBwH2dGPHN7iJEVPe5A%3A125738%3A1272984302. ↩

  18. “Negro Lawyer, Former Republican, Comes Out for Bryan,” July 26, 1900, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/363215374/?match=1&terms=%22Albert%20M.%20Thomas%22&pqsid=FQKsjGazVEsPFc7p9-MRhA%3A1451938%3A1179706672. ↩

  19. “Albert M. Thomas Highest On List,” Buffalo Illustrated Times, November, 27, 1904, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/1138109395/?match=1&terms=%22Albert%20M.%20Thomas%22&pqsid=FQKsjGazVEsPFc7p9-MRhA%3A4767276%3A2119770711. ↩

  20. “Thomas Resigned As Deputy Clerk,” The Buffalo Times, October 28, 1906, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/442538561/?match=1&terms=%22Albert%20M.%20Thomas%22&pqsid=FQKsjGazVEsPFc7p9-MRhA%3A4767276%3A2119770711. ↩

  21. https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/view/4121527. ↩

  22. “Well-Known Negro Lawyer, Former of Buffalo, Who Died Suddenly in New York,” Buffalo Evening News, December 12, 1906, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/842999015/?match=1&terms=%22Ayler%20and%20Thomas%22&pqsid=h6wzLmVNELjtdWZNWfXzBg%3A27948%3A1109920757. ↩

Full Name

Albert Morris Thomas, Jr.

Family Name

Thomas,

Yale Affiliation

Graduate of Yale Law School, 1884

Birth Date

1853

Birth Place

Charleston, West Virginia, United States

Educated At

Yale Law School
Fisk University

Places Lived

New York City, New York, United States
Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Buffalo, New York, United States

Death Date

1906

Gender

male

Decade(s) at Yale

1880s
Media
Albert Morris Thomas, Jr. - *The Buffalo News*, 12 December 1906, page 6.Albert Morris Thomas, Jr. - *The Buffalo News*, 12 December 1906, page 6.