Samuel Field Phillips (February 18, 1824 - November 18, 1903) was a civil rights pioneer, lawyer, politician, and U.S. Solicitor General (1872–1885). He took part in the landmark civil rights case, Plessy v. Ferguson.
Samuel Phillips was born in New York City. His father, James Phillips, was a British mathematician. When Samuel was about two years of age his father became the first professor of mathematics at the newly formed University of North ...
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Samuel Field Phillips (February 18, 1824 - November 18, 1903) was a civil rights pioneer, lawyer, politician, and U.S. Solicitor General (1872–1885). He took part in the landmark civil rights case, Plessy v. Ferguson.
Samuel Phillips was born in New York City. His father, James Phillips, was a British mathematician. When Samuel was about two years of age his father became the first professor of mathematics at the newly formed University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and the family moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Samuel Phillips graduated from UNC with highest honors in 1841, earning a master’s degree three years later. He began his own law practice in North Carolina and joined the UNC law department as a tutor before embarking on a career in politics, beginning with his election as a Whig to the North Carolina General Assemblies of 1852 and 1854. Phillips served on North Carolina's state court of claims in 1861, and as state auditor from 1862-1864.
Phillips had been an...
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