William Henry Hastie Jr. (November 17, 1904 – April 14, 1976) was an American lawyer, judge, educator, public official, and civil rights advocate. He was the first African American to serve as Governor of the United States Virgin Islands, as a federal judge, and as a federal appellate judge. He served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and previously served as District Judge of the District Court of the Virgin Islands.
William Henry Hastie
Third Circuit Court of Appeals
Chief Judge — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Born 1904 in Knoxville, TN
Died 1976 in Philadelphia, PA
FJC ID: 995
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 25/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 293/year
Third Circuit Court of Appeals · 1950–1976
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- African American
Prior employment
- Judicial Conference of the United StatesMember · 1968–1971
- Virgin IslandsGovernor · 1946–1949
Dean · 1939–1946- Civilian aide to the Secretary of War1940–1943
U.S. Department of the InteriorAssistant solicitor · 1933–1937- Private practice, Washington, D.C.1930–1933
Appointments
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third CircuitChief Judge1950–1976 · Appointed by Harry S Truman (Democratic)Term ended: Death
Education
S.J.D. · 1933- LL.B. · 1930
- Amherst CollegeA.B. · 1925