William Clarence Hueston Sr.

An active member of fraternal organizations, Hueston served as education commissioner and grand secretary within the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks of the World.

[5] In 1928, Hueston was unanimously voted a lifelong member of the Harlan Law Club in Detroit, Michigan, for his outstanding legal contributions.

[3] He served for one more year as a magistrate in Gary, Indiana, until President Hoover appointed him as Assistant Solicitor in the United States Post Office in 1930.

[12][3] Hueston served under Postmaster General Walter Brown for 3 years as the head of the Property Damage and Personal Injury department, resigning in 1933 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected.

[13] Hueston implemented an unprecedented federal policy wherein any termination of any African American employee within the United States Post Office was to be confirmed and finalized through him.

[3] Hueston often gave speeches to students and communities, and he appeared alongside notable politicians, such as Presidents Hoover and Eisenhower, to promote the fight for racial justice.

Hueston was intimately involved with the largest African American fraternity in the country of his lifetime: The Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks of the World (I.B.P.O.E.W).

[1] Hueston received considerable praise throughout his service as Education Commissioner, and he is credited with establishing scholarships and oratory competitions for over 50,000 African American students across the country.

Hueston received consistent, substantial praise from prominent newspaper publications like the Chicago Defender, the Philadelphia Tribune, and the Pittsburgh Courier for his career’s work in the legal field.