Watkins, Craig
1968-2023 · Contribution: 2006
First African American elected District Attorney in Texas history
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
Became the first African American elected as a District Attorney in Texas in 2006, leading Dallas County's prosecutorial office and becoming nationally known for establishing one of the country's first conviction integrity units.
Life & background
Admitted to the bar in 1994, Watkins became the first African American elected as a District Attorney in Texas in 2006, leading Dallas County and gaining national attention for creating one of the first conviction integrity units in the country, which led to the exoneration of numerous wrongfully convicted individuals.
Sources
- Dallas Morning News; KUT/KERA NPR (In Black America, John L. Hanson Jr.); The HistoryMakers; Governing magazine
More in Law & Civil Rights
Allen, Macon Bolling
1816-1894
First African American lawyer in the United States (1844); among the earliest Black judicial officeholders (Justice of the Peace, 1847)
Bedford, Louis A. Jr.
1926-2014
First African American judge in Dallas County, Texas
Bolin, Jane Matilda
1908-2007
First Black woman to become a judge in the United States
Booker, Cory Anthony
1969-
First African American U.S. senator from New Jersey