Topic - Thomas Ruffin

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FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2019, file photo, Judge Cheri Beasley poses for a picture from the Chief Justice's seat in a courtroom in Fayetteville, N.C. The North Carolina Supreme Court says it will remove the portrait of former Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin, background, from its courtroom. Ruffin owned slaves during the 1800s and defended slavery through his court rulings. (Melissa Sue Gerrits/The Fayetteville Observer via AP, File)

NC Supreme Court removing portrait of slave owner ex-justice

By BRYAN ANDERSON - Associated Press

Portrait of judge taken down because of his ‘racist past’

Associated Press

FILE - In this Aug. 2, 1999 file photo, N.C. Supreme Court Justice Henry Frye gets hugs from his granddaughters Whitney Frye, 13, left, Jordan Frye, 11, middle, and Endya,10 in Raleigh, N.C. In North Carolina's Supreme Court chamber hangs a towering painting of Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin, a 19th century slave owner and jurist who authored a notorious opinion about the “absolute” rights of slaveholders over the enslaved. Two African American chief justices have sat on the bench beneath Ruffin's stare: Frye who served as chief justice for about a year from 1999 to 2000 after 16 years as an associate justice; and Cheri Beasley, who was an associate justice for about seven years before she was appointed as chief justice in 2019. (Scott Sharpe/The News &amp; Observer via AP)

Court portrait of writer of notorious slave ruling reviewed

By MARTHA WAGGONER - Associated Press