William Thaddeus Coleman, Jr. was the fourth United States Secretary of Transportation, from March 7, 1975 to January 20, 1977, and the second African American to serve in the Cabinet. Coleman is also a distinguished lawyer who, with Thurgood Marshall, has played a major role in significant civil rights cases. Coleman was born to William Thaddeus Coleman, Sr. and Laura Beatrice Coleman. attended local public schools before graduating summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 1941 and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1946. He was elected to the Pi Gamma Mu... international honor society upon graduation from the University of Pennsylvania. Coleman is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Coleman was awarded an honorary degree from Gettysburg College on Sunday, May 22, 2011. He began his legal career in 1947, serving as law clerk to Judge Herbert F. Goodrich of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter in 1948. He was the first African American to serve as a Supreme Court law clerk.
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