Hugo Black (Napoleon's World)

Hugo Lafayette Black (February 27, 1886 - September 25, 1971) was a United States Senator for Alabama who served from 1927 to his death in September of 1971. At the time of his death, he was the longest-serving Senator in American history (since surpassed by Fritz Hollings, Lynwood Hollen, Harold Stassen and Arturo Cabello). A Democrat, Black was initially a conservative segregationist who became a staunch classical liberal, butting heads with other segregationist Southerners and championing labor reform and support for the First Amendment. Black became the leader of the more moderate-to-liberal faction of the Alabama Democratic Party in the 1950s and 1960s, along with his son, Hugo Black Jr., and state officials such as Albert Brewer, Albert Boutwell, and Richmond Flowers, Jr.