Edward Richard Dudley III (1911-2005)

K-182

Edward R. Dudley III was born in South Boston, VA, and was raised in the family’s home three blocks west of here. After high school in Roanoke, he graduated from Johnson C. Smith University in NC and earned a law degree in 1941 in NY. Working with Thurgood Marshall on the NAACP’s legal team, he challenged racial discrimination in education, voting, and transportation. Pres. Harry Truman appointed Dudley minister to Liberia in 1948 and ambassador in 1949, making him the U.S.’s first Black ambassador. Dudley worked to secure equal treatment for Black foreign service officers. After returning to NY, he became borough president of Manhattan in 1961 and served on the state’s Supreme Court (1965-1985).

Department of Historic Resources, 2024

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

“The Legacy of Edward R. Dudley: Civil Rights Activist and the First African American Ambassador,” National Museum of American Diplomacy. https://diplomacy.state.gov/stories/edward-r-dudley-first-african-american-ambassador/ H. Timothy Lovelace Jr., “Edward Dudley, Civil Rights Warrior at Home and Abroad,” American Experience, 28 Jan. 2022. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/american-diplomat-edward-dudley-civil-rights-warrior-home-and-abroad/ “Interview with Ambassador Edward Richard Dudley,” Library of Congress, 3 April 1981. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/mss/mfdip/2010/2010dud01/2010dud01.pdf Robert C. Meade and John F. Werner, “Edward R. Dudley,” Historical Society of the New York Courts https://history.nycourts.gov/biography/edward-r-dudley/ Baltimore Afro-American, 7 Jan 1950, 11 Feb. 1961, 27 June 1964, 27 July 1963, 23 May 1970. New York Amsterdam News, 10 Dec. 1966, 16 May, 28 Nov. 1970. Roanoke Times, 12 Feb. 2005. New York Times, 11 Feb. 2005.