Benjamin Franklin Cameron

Benjamin Franklin Cameron (December 14, 1890 – April 3, 1964) was an American jurist from the state of Mississippi. He served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 1955 to 1964. The Fifth Circuit was a key court during the civil rights era in the 1950s and 1960s as it covered Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, all of which had varying levels of racial segregation. During his tenure, Cameron, a segregationist, often found himself in the minority of civil-rights cases, with a group of more liberal judges, known as the Fifth Circuit Four, overturning Jim Crow laws. Shortly before his death, he charged the Chief Judge of the circuit with purposefully assigning these judges to cases with the intent of overturning segregation. Early life and career Cameron was born in Meridian, Mississippi. He graduated from Meridian High School. He received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Sewanee: The University of the South in 1911 and a Bachelor of Laws from Cumberland School of Law (then part of Cumberland University, now part of Samford University) in 1914. He initially worked as a German and Latin teacher at Norfolk Academy before starting his legal practice in Meridian. In addition to his law practice, he was the football coach at Meridian High School for five years. In 1928, Cameron supported Herbert Hoover and became affiliated with the Republican Party after Democratic candidate Al Smith supported the repeal of prohibition during the 1928 presidential election. In testimony before the U.S. Senate, Cameron stated that he was an independent but voted for Republicans. After Hoover's election, Cameron was nominated as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi and served through the end of Hoover's term.