| James B. Whitfield | |
| Office: | Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida |
| Appointer: | William Sherman Jennings |
| Term Start: | February 15, 1904 |
| Term End: | January 4, 1943 |
| Predecessor: | Evelyn C. Maxwell |
| Successor: | Harold L. Sebring |
| Office1: | Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida |
| Term Start1: | January 8, 1935 |
| Term End1: | January 1937 |
| Predecessor1: | Fred H. Davis |
| Successor1: | W. H. Ellis |
| Term Start2: | January 6, 1909 |
| Term End2: | January 1913 |
| Predecessor2: | Thomas M. Shackleford |
| Successor2: | Thomas M. Shackleford |
| Term Start3: | January 10, 1905 |
| Term End3: | June 12, 1905 |
| Predecessor3: | R. Fenwick Taylor |
| Successor3: | Thomas M. Shackleford |
| Office4: | 17th Florida Attorney General |
| Governor4: | William Sherman Jennings |
| Term Start4: | March 4, 1903 |
| Term End4: | February 15, 1904 |
| Predecessor4: | William Bailey Lamar |
| Successor4: | W. H. Ellis |
| Office5: | 12th Florida State Treasurer |
| Governor5: | William D. Bloxham William Sherman Jennings |
| Term Start5: | June 19, 1897 |
| Term End5: | March 4, 1903 |
| Predecessor5: | Clarence B. Collins |
| Successor5: | William V. Knott |
| Office6: | 14th Clerk of the Florida Supreme Court |
| Term Start6: | 1889 |
| Term End6: | June 19, 1897 |
| Predecessor6: | David C. Wilson |
| Successor6: | Bartow B. Wilson |
| Birth Date: | 8 November 1860 |
| Birth Place: | Wayne County, North Carolina |
| Death Place: | Tallahassee, Florida |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Spouse: | |
| Children: | 3 |
| Education: | West Florida Seminary University of Virginia (LL.B) |
| Occupation: | Attorney |
James Bryan Whitfield (November 8, 1860 – August 20, 1948) was an American attorney and politician who served as a long-time justice of the Florida Supreme Court.[1]
Whitfield was born on November 8, 1860, on his father's plantation in Wayne County, North Carolina. He was a member of the Whitfield family, a prominent planter family in the American South. In 1863, Whitfield and his father moved to their plantation in Leon County, Florida.[2]
Whitfield later moved to the nearby city of Tallahassee, Florida, where he studied law at the West Florida Seminary, later attending the University of Virginia receiving his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1886. He was admitted into the Florida Bar later that year.
In 1888, Whitfield, a bank teller at the time, became the personal secretary of Florida Governor Edward A. Perry. The following year, he was appointed Clerk of the Florida Supreme Court.[3] Whitfield, a Democrat, served in this position until June 19, 1897, when he was appointed Florida State Treasurer, succeeding Clarence B. Collins, who had resigned following his impeachment in the Florida House of Representatives for mismanaging state funds.[4] [5]
Whitfield served as State Treasurer until March 1903, when he was appointed Florida Attorney General following the election of the incumbent, William Bailey Lamar, to the U.S. House of Representatives.[6] [7]
In February 1904, Whitfield was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Governor William Sherman Jennings. Whitfield served on the court until his retirement on January 4, 1943, making him the second-longest serving Florida Supreme Court justice, only behind William Glenn Terrell.[8] Additionally, Whitfield was elected Chief Justice by the court three times, serving in that role from January 1905 until June 1905, 1909 until 1913, and 1935 until 1937.[9]
Whitfield's tenure on the court was marked by a period of great uncertainty regarding the rights of African Americans in Florida. Whitfield himself did not have an opinion on the topic as a whole, rather regarding it on a case-by-case basis, often leading to conflicting opinions. For example, Whitfield wrote the majority opinion for Montgomery v. State (1908), in which he wrote that it is unlawful to exclude black jurors from trials. On the other hand, however, he reaffirmed racial segregation in Florida East Coast Ry. Co. v. Geiger (1913), which upheld separate but equal, and Parramore v. State (1921), which upheld a ban on mixed-race marriages.[10]
Whitfield retired from the court on January 4, 1943, due to declining health.
Whitfield married Leila Nash on November 25, 1886. Nash died from complications following the birth of their first child, John Nash, in 1897.[11] Whitfield later married Margaret Hayward Randolph on June 12, 1901. They had five children together, Mary Croom, James Bryan Jr., Julia, Margaret, and Randolph.[12]
Whitfield died on August 20, 1948, at his home in Tallahassee, Florida. He is buried in Tallahassee's Saint Johns Episcopal Church Cemetery.
In 1945, Whitfield received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Florida. The University of Florida also has a scholarship in his memory, the Judge James Bryan Whitfield Constitutional Law Scholarship.[13]