Edward Garrison Draper has been admitted to the Maryland bar posthumously after being denied because of his race in 1857. On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Maryland held a special admission ceremony for Draper, who was the first Black person found qualified in all respects to practice law, but was denied because he was not a “free white citizen” of the state. This spring, retired Justice John Browning of the Texas Fifth Court of Appeals; Maryland attorney Domonique Flowers, and University of Baltimore School of Law Professor José Anderson filed a petition for Mr. Draper’s posthumous admission to the Maryland bar.