After Six Years in Office, Mississippi Governor Appoints First Black Judge

Malcolm Harrison was sworn in earlier this month as a circuit court judge in Hinds County, Mississippi, which includes the capital city of Jackson. Harrison is a graduate of Jackson State University. He earned his law degree at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.

What is notable about the Harrison appointment is that in nearly six years since taking office, Governor Haley Barbour has appointed more than two dozen judges to the bench in Mississippi. Harrison is the first African American.

It is important to note that about 35 percent of the population of the state of Mississippi is black.

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