<Tr> <Th> Spouse (s) </Th> <Td> Hannah Allen </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Children </Th> <Td> Five </Td> </Tr> <P> Macon Bolling Allen (born Allen Macon Bolling; August 4, 1816--June 11, 1894) is believed to be both the first African American licensed to practice law and to hold a judicial position in the United States . Allen passed the bar exam in Maine in 1844 and became a Massachusetts Justice of the Peace in 1848 . He moved to South Carolina after the American Civil War to practice law and was elected as a probate court judge in 1874 . Following the Reconstruction Era, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked as an attorney for the Land and Improvement Association . </P> <P> Allen moved to Portland, Maine in the early 1840s and studied law, working as a law clerk for General Samuel Fessenden, a local abolitionist and attorney . After passing the bar exam, he was granted his license to practice law in Maine on July 3, 1844 . He experienced difficulty finding legal work in Maine because whites were unwilling to hire a black attorney and few blacks lived in Maine . </P>

When did the first black lawyer in america receive his license