Edward Richard Dudley

Edward Richard Dudley (March 11, 1911 – February 8, 2005) was an American lawyer, judge, civil rights activist and the first African-American to hold the rank of Ambassador of the United States, as ambassador to Liberia from 1949 to 1953.

Life
Dudley was born on March 11, 1911, in South Boston, Virginia, to Edward Richard and Nellie (nee Johnson) Dudley. He graduated with a bachelor of science degree from Johnson C. Smith College in 1932 where he became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, and then taught school in Gainsboro, Virginia. He studied dentistry for a year on a scholarship at Howard University, and then moved to New York City.

In New York, Dudley worked in odd jobs including stage manager for Orson Welles at a public works theater project. In 1938, he enrolled at St. John's University School of Law, graduating with an LL.B. in 1941. For a brief period he practiced law, entered Democratic politics in Harlem, and was an assistant New York State attorney general in 1942. In 1942, he married Rae Oley. They had a son, Edward R. Dudley III.

In 1943, he joined the N.A.A.C.P. legal team. As an assistant special counsel, he wrote briefs and prepared cases seeking the admission of black students to Southern colleges, equal pay for black teachers and an end to discrimination in public transportation.

He was executive assistant to the governor of the Virgin Islands from 1945 to 1947, and was then appointed by President Harry S. Truman as minister to Liberia in 1948 and then as ambassador in 1949. Returning home in 1953, he practiced law and directed the N.A.A.C.P.'s Freedom Fund. In 1955, New York City's mayor, Robert F. Wagner, Jr., appointed him as justice of the Domestic Relations Court.

Dudley was the borough president of Manhattan from 1961 to 1964. In the New York state election of 1962, he was the Democratic and Liberal candidate for attorney general but was defeated by the Republican incumbent, Louis Lefkowitz. He was a delegate to the 1964 Democratic National Convention. J. Raymond Jones was influential in helping Dudley in New York politics.

In November 1964, Dudley was elected as a justice of the New York State Supreme Court for the First Judicial District (Manhattan and the Bronx), a post he held from 1965 until his retirement in 1985.

Death
Dudley died of prostate cancer in St. Luke's Hospital in Manhattan on February 8, 2005, aged 93. He was survived by his widow, their son, two brothers (Dr. Calmeze Dudley and Dr. Hubert Dudley) and three grandchildren (Kevin, Kyle and Alexandra Dudley).

The Dudley family summered in the SANS community, buying their lot during the 1950s expansion into Sag Harbor Hills. The cottage is presently occupied by the Dudley family.

In 2022, Dudley was featured in The American Diplomat, a PBS documentary that explores the lives and legacies of three African-American ambassadors.