Judge Ruffin

As a young lawyer, John H. “Jack” Ruffin had to practice 10 years before he was invited to join the Augusta Bar Association. It’s the way things were in those days. But thanks in large part to Jack Ruffin, who died last week at the age of 75, things in Richmond and Burke Counties and all across the South didn’t stay that way much longer.

The Waynesboro native became the first black lawyer and the first black Superior Court Judge in Augusta. In the early years of his private practice he used his knowledge of the law to help desegregate institutions in this area and achieve a higher level of equality for the races.

In this day and time, it’s hard to understand the kind of courage it took for Jack Ruffin to take the stand he did in the 1960s and 70s. Challenging the Jim Crow laws of the South was dangerous for anyone – more so for a young black man than anyone else.

His success in the courtroom led to his appointment to both the Superior Court Bench and to the State Court of Appeals, where he served as the first black chief judge in 2005.

His remarkable career came to an end when he retired from the Court of Appeals in 2008. His portrait hangs today in the courtroom of the Burke County Court House as a symbol of the esteem in which he is held by the citizens his hometown.

Accolades were bestowed upon him at the time of his retirement and they are being heard again on the occasion of his death. We are proud that the Honorable Judge Ruffin is a native son of Burke County and we are proud of the life he led. We join his family and his many friends in mourning his passing.