William Henry Hastie (1904–1976), civil rights attorney, public official, and federal judge, was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. Hastie followed in his cousin Charles Houston’s footsteps by attending Amherst College and Harvard Law School, where he studied under Felix Frankfurter, receiving a Bachelor of Law in 1930 and a Doctor of Juridical Science in 1933. Between degrees, Hastie joined Houston and Houston and the faculty of Howard Law School, becoming Dean in 1939. During the 1930s he began his tenure with the NAACP as a strategic advisor and counsel. He also served as chairman of the Legal Committee from 1939–1949 and on the Board of Directors of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund from 1941–1968. In 1949 Hastie was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In 1954 and 1967, he was considered for the Supreme Court.