A Syracuse man who graduated from SU's College of Law is getting his long overdue recognition.

William Herbert Johnson became the school's first graduate of African descent back in 1903. He was never able to become a practicing lawyer. Now more than a century later, he's being posthumously admitted to the state bar.

"Because William Herbert Johnson dared to pursue a career in law, he paved the way for other African-Americans,” Hon. Shirley Troutman, Appellate Division, Fourth Department Associate Justice.

Central New York's minority bar association is also named in his honor.