Though not well-known outside of labor law and policy circles, within them Howard Jenkins Jr. is a key figure for his role in shaping federal policy around labor unions and labor relations.

Jenkins was born in Denver, Colorado in 1915 to a civil servant father who worked as a mail carrier, but his own route into federal service was indirect. Jenkins was first a lawyer in Colorado, having been the first African American to pass the Colorado Bar Examination — though not the first to practice law in Colorado.

Jenkins moved into the labor relations sphere, leaving private practice for the Denver Office of Price Administration, from which he moved up to the National War Labor Board when he was appointed the Regional Attorney in 1943. He then became Chief Regional Enforcement Officer in 1945.

A professorship brought Jenkins to Washington DC. He joined the faculty of Howard University’s Law School to teach labor law and administrative law in 1946. While a law professor, he also worked for the National Wage Stabilization Board and helped prepare legal briefs in U.S. Supreme Court desegregation cases, including Brown v. Board.

Then in 1956, Jenkins became special assistant to the Solicitor of Labor at the Department of Labor. In this role, Jenkins was heavily involved in drafting the landmark legislation for regulating labor unions in the United States: the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959. In fact, his intimate understanding of the Act is the reason he was named the first Director of the Office of Regulations at the Bureau of Labor-Management Reports (the Bureau is now the Office of Labor Management Standards) in 1959. That office was responsible for crafting the regulations that would shape enforcement of the complex new law. Thus, Jenkins was a key figure in shaping how labor unions were and are regulated. These issues were constantly in the headlines at the time, given the abuses and scandals around Jimmy Hoffa and some other leaders of major labor unions.

In 1962, Jenkins was made the Assistant Commissioner of that same Bureau and with the promotion became the highest-ranking African American attorney in the federal government at the time. He would not remain in the role for long, however, because President Kennedy appointed him to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in 1963. With the appointment Jenkins was the first black NLRB member and went on to receive reappointments from three more presidents in his 20 year tenure.

Howard Jenkins Jr. was a law professor at Howard University; a Special Assistant in SOL; Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Regulation at the Bureau of Labor Management Reports, which was the precursor Office to OLMS; and the first African-American member of the NLRB, where he served for 20 years — the second longest tenure in the Board’s history.

This long and distinguished career in civil service was duly recognized by the Department of Labor in 2019 when Howard Jenkins Jr. was named to the Department’s Hall of Honor, which posthumously honors Americans who made distinct contributions to the Labor field — Jenkins died in 2003.

I, the author of this post, had the privilege of attending the ceremony for Jenkins’ induction into the Hall of Honor. Jenkins’ son Lawrence Jenkins represented him at the ceremony. Lawrence Jenkins, a hospital chaplain in the Washington D.C. area, shared his memories of and experiences with his father. He emphasized that his father felt a responsibility to set an example in how he lived his life as a black professional. Lawrence Jenkins mentioned that this extended to how sharply his father dressed and said he never even saw his father wear jeans.

The remarks at the Department of Labor event painted a picture of Howard Jenkins Jr. as a hard-working man who was devoted to the public interest and fully aware that he was a pioneer whose numerous personal accomplishments held a great deal of importance for those who would come after him.

Civil Service Spotlight: Howard Jenkins Jr.