Antonio de Jesus Cardozo

Antonio de Jesus Cardozo was born on June 14, 1903 in Cape Verde, then a colony of Portugal, although some sources list his date of birth as 1902 or May 14, 1904. He spent most of his childhood in Portugal before moving to the United States at the age of 17. Cardozo worked as a ranch hand for his uncle in California before moving to New England. While working in a factory, Cardozo completed high school and enrolled in Suffolk University’s law school. He received his JD in 1929, at the age of 26. Instead of pursuing a career in law, Cardozo then enrolled as a freshman at Harvard University, where he received his bachelors’ degree in 1933, the reverse order of the normal college experience.

While at Harvard, Cardozo learned about Tufts’ new Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. According to Tufts legend, Cardozo was the first student to ever enroll at Fletcher, where he was a member of the first graduating class. It is clear that Cardozo thrived at Fletcher and had a life-long connection with Tufts. Nicknamed Mr. Fletcher, Cardozo attended every single Fletcher graduation until his death 1984 and helped create the Fletcher Alumni Association. Cardozo was the first Fletcher graduate to win the Distinguished Service Award from the Tufts Alumni Council in 1961 and the first Fletcher graduate to serve on the Board of Trustees in 1968.

Following his graduation from Fletcher, Cardozo returned to the legal field, where he worked for the rest of his life. He was a founder and senior partner of Cardozo and Tucker, Boston’s first Black law firm, where he specialized in international law and served as a legal advisor to the Brazilian and Portuguese consulates. However, Cardozo was flexible as a lawyer, and even assisted the NAACP in a Georgia case to combat the use of chain gangs for minor crimes that predominantly targeted Black men. During his legal practice, Cardozo was a member of the American Bar Association, Massachusetts Bar Association, Boston Bar Association, Bar of the United States Supreme Court, and the director and secretary for the Middlesex Bar Association. Outside of the legal field, Cardozo volunteered with Harvard’s Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, the New England Aquarium, and St. Anthony’s Church in Cambridge, among other groups.

Cardozo never lost touch with his Cape Verdean and Portuguese heritage. In addition to serving as a legal advisor to the Brazilian and Portuguese consulates, he was a director and attorney for the Cambridge Portuguese Credit Union, director of the Portuguese American Cultural Society and the Portuguese American Federation. He assisted immigrants and new arrivals from Portuguese-speaking countries through the Cambridge Organization of Portuguese Americans and helped the group acquire a community center. During Cape Verde’s transition to independence, Cardozo was a member of the Casa do Cabo Verde, a social service agency for Cape Verdeans, and won both the Medal of the Fifth Century of Death of Prince Henry the Navigator in 1965 and the Commandador da Ordem de Benemerencia in 1972 from the Portuguese government.

Cardozo passed away in 1984 at the age of 81, following an unexpected illness.

Biography written and researched by Cat Rosch.

Sources:

Vertical File Collection. Vertical files, C. Cardozo, Antonio de J F34 1960 -- 1984. UA073.003.VF.00125 Tufts University. Tufts Archival Research Center. Medford, MA.