As we honor Henry L. Marsh III and his brother Harold M. Marsh Sr. with the renaming of the Manchester Courthouse, there is one among us who led the charge in the justice system in Richmond whom everyone seems to have forgotten.

He is retired Richmond Judge Willard H. Douglas Jr.

A native of Amherst County, Judge Douglas is a Marine veteran and a 1957 graduate of Virginia Union University. In 1960, he graduated from Howard University with his degree in law.

He served as a staff attorney for the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights and then was employed with the law firm of Tucker, Hill and Marsh.

He served as the first black assistant prosecutor for the City of Richmond. He was elected as the first full-time black judge in Virginia in 1974. His nomination was sponsored and championed by then-Sen. L. Douglas Wilder. He also was the first African-American to be appointed to the Ethics Committee of the Virginia Supreme Court.

Deservedly, Attorney Oliver Hill has a street and a federal courthouse named after him, as well as a bust on Third Street. Gov. Wilder has a school named after him. The Marsh brothers have a courthouse named for them.

We have honorary streets for the first black Richmond City Council members and the first black mayor, Henry Marsh. I take nothing from these great individuals for I respect their role and place in history.

However, one must ask, “What happened to the very first?” I ask the question to the City of Richmond and the city administration: What have you done for Judge Douglas, this quiet, gentle giant? What has been done in his honor? Did he not pave the way for so many African-Americans?

I appreciate all of those people previously mentioned. But how can you forget a person who has accomplished so many firsts in the history of the City of Richmond, not to mention the state of Virginia?

WANDA D. STALLINGS

Richmond