New Law School Scholarship Honors the First Black Federal Judge in Arkansas

The William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has established a new scholarship program to honor George Howard Jr., the first African-American federal judge in Arkansas.

The Judge George Howard Jr. Memorial Scholarship is funded by contributions from his widow and daughter, who is a professor at the law school.

Judge Howard, who died in 2007, was one of six African Americans who were the first to enroll at the law school of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He earned his law degree there in 1954 after completing undergraduate work at Lincoln University in Missouri. He was named to the federal bench in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter.

The federal court house in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, is named in his honor.