Reuben V. Anderson


Reuben V. Anderson was a Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court from 1985 to 1990.

Early life

Anderson was born in 1943, in Jackson, Mississippi. His father was a bricklayer, and his great-great-grandparents were slaves. He graduated from Tougaloo College in 1965. He received his law degree in 1967, from the University of Mississippi, a mere five years after it admitted its first black student, James Meredith, and four years after it admitted its first black law student.

Career

Anderson first worked as a civil right lawyer, in the firm Anderson, Banks, Nichols & Leventhal, from 1967 to 1977, where he was the assistant counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in the Mississippi office. Anderson was appointed to the Jackson Municipal Court, where he served two years. He then spent four years as a Hinds County Court Judge. Next, for three years, Anderson was a judge on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1985 Anderson was appointed to the State Supreme Court, becoming the first black judge on that court.
In July 2020, Anderson was appointed to a special commission which will present new design ideas of the Flag of Mississippi to the voters for approval.

Family

Anderson's wife is the former Phyllis Wright. They have three children, Roslyn V. Anderson, Vincent, and Raina Anderson-Minor.