The Hon. Joseph Woodrow Hatchett, a 1954 FAMU grad, who became Florida's first Black Supreme Court Justice, appointed to the court in 1975 by then Gov. Reubin Askew was laid to rest yesterday after a ceremony at Tallahassee's Bethel Baptist Church. He was 88 years-old.
Hatchett was a soft spoken, low key sort of man and prominent lawyers who fought for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in the 1960s and served as an assistant United States attorney for the Middle District of Florida for several years.
Askew put him on the Supreme Court at an important moment, when the place was falling apart. He replaced former Justice David L. McCain, who later died a fugitive from drug smuggling charges.
In 1976, Hatchett retained his seat in a contested statewide election, becoming the only African American to do so in Florida during the 20th Century. It was the last contested election for the court before Constitutional reforms moved state appeals judges to an uncontested merit election system.
After graduating from FAMU, Hatchet went on to earn his law degree from Howard University.