This beautiful, illustrated volume recounts the story of Judge James Franklyn Bourne, Jr., Prince George's County's first African American lawyer and its first black District Court Judge, from his childhood to his rise to the District Court bench in 1971.

Innately bright, personable, and tenacious, Bourne began practicing law in the county in 1950. Later he would become the third president of the NAACP and its first legal counsel.

In this definitive biography, Maryland lawyer and biographer Karen Williams Gooden—with the skill of a sleuth—details the life of Bourne, whom she says "led the initial struggle to eradicate every vestige of bigotry and discrimination from the very fabric of Prince George's County."

Relive judge Bourne's fascinating life story, and meet many of the people who befriended and influenced this famous Prince Georgian.