This is the first installment on the life of Delano Stewart. In the future, Stewart will allow Race Inquiry to publish excerpts from his autobiography, “Negro Lawyer,” which he is writing.
Stewart, 81, retired after 50 years as an attorney. He was Hillsborough County’s first African-American assistant public defender, ran Florida’s first integrated law firm and has represented countless clients who he believes were picked on because they were black.
Through it all, he said, he sought to change the views of people who viewed blacks as inferior by holding up his own accomplishments and by inspiring other African-Americans to achieve.
“It doesn’t matter whether a man likes or loathes you,” Stewart said. “If he respects you, you can’t discern the difference.” Tampa Tribune, June 6, 2015.