After the Stock Market Crash of 1929, his father left Kansas to look for work; although For a while he would send money and letters, he later stopped and eventually lost all contact with his family.
He had known since eighth grade that he wanted to be a lawyer, so after high school he studied politics at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS.
He was the Vice President and Director of Douglas State Bank, was twice elected as delegate to the Democratic National Convention, and was Trustee of AME Church.
In November 1972 he was elected the first black District Court Judge in Kansas and served two successive four-year terms.
He wrote an autobiographyTo Heaven Through Hell: An Autobiography of the First Black District Court Judge of Kansas, published in 1986 five years after he retired in 1980.