A LOOK BACK: KAPPA HISTORY
E. Washington Rhodes School, Philadelphia, PA.
“THROUGH HIS COLUMNS, HE EMPHASIZED THAT BLACK AMERICANS MUST CONTINUE THE STRUGGLE FOR EQUAL JUSTICE AS CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES .”
earning his L.L.B. in 1924. With his attainment as an attorney, he became one of three lawyer-publishers of the Black press (including Robert S. Abbott (Chicago (IL) Alumni Chap- ter, 1921, The Chicago Defender ). He was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1926 and became a law firm part- ner with former Lincoln University classmate Robert N.C. Nix (who later became Chief Justice of the Pennsylva- nia Supreme Court). That same year, former University of Pennsylvania law professor and U.S. Senator (R-PA) George W. Pepper sponsored Rhodes’ appointment to become the U.S. Dis- trict Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (1926-1933). President Calvin Coolidge appointed Rhodes, making him the first Black person to serve as an assistant U.S. attorney in Pennsylvania.
Rhodes became president (1933- 1935) and a board of directors member (~1940) of the National Bar Association, Philadelphia assistant Attorney General (1939), member of the County Board of Law Examiners (1947-1953), Solicitor of the Phila- delphia Urban League (1950-1960), member of the Philadelphia Bar Asso- ciation’s 150th Anniversary general committee (1952), and was the first
Black person appointed to serve on the Pennsylvania Parole Board (1953- 1956). Although he had a storied legal career, Rhodes practically abandoned his law practice to develop the news- paper into a Philadelphia institution.
COMMUNITY IMPACT & POLITICS
He bridged the worlds of media, law, and public service–shaping public
74 THE JOURNAL ♦ FALL 2025
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